Shadow From the Sky
by Shonoki Umi
Summary: Ayame is about to find out what it's like to face your past and fears when a certain katana wielding fire apparition lands in the woods not to far from her house. Rated for violence and slight swearing. HieiXOC
1. Shadow from the Sky

Shonoki: Hello everyone, as you can see I changed my Pen name and have decided to start a new story.

Yusuke: Why did you change your name?

Shonoki: Because this is the one I use on everything else and it seemed kind of dumb to have two. Also if this story looks familiar its because it is also on quizilla, I am its original author, so if it looks familiar that's why. I will be changing a few things.

Hiei: sitting in tree eating sweet snow She stole it.

Shonoki: I did not!!! growls . I only own Ayame, not the YuYu gang, they are my friends however. Points to gang

Everyone (minus Hiei): Hey

Hiei: Hn.

Shonoki: Anyway, on with the story.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ayame laid on the ground in a field while starring up a the cloudless sky. She had just gotten rid of two demons that found there way into the human world. The wind blew across the field, making her blonde red tipped hair cover her eyes.

"Why can't every day be like this," Ayame sat up and looked out at the forest in front of her. "No demons attacking, no having to defend the human race, just a normal ordinary day with nothing to-" She stopped when she saw a black figure falling from the sky into the forest in front of her.

"What the hell is that? It better not be a demon, I'm getting tired of having to track them." She picked up katana and headed for the woods. "Hey Ayame," Ayame stopped at the sound of her friend Miu's voice. Miu was 18. She was taller then Ayame (then again everybody is, Ayame is only 5'3") and had long brown hair that was usually in a braid.

"Hey Miu, what's up?" Ayame asked. "Nothing much, I haven't seen you for awhile so Naoko and I thought maybe we could hang out again sometime soon." Ayame shook her head. "Probably not, the number of demon attacks has increased dramatically lately, in fact I think one just fell in the woods." Miu's face paled. She had been attacked by a demon before a long time ago, she learned about all three worlds, Koenma, demons, and everything else soon after.(except for the spirit detectives)

"Umm, on second thought, I have things to do, so I'll just be going now." Miu said as she went to turn. "Miu it might be a better idea if you stand here and wait for me to give you the all clear."

Miu turned and looked at Ayame pleadingly. "You'll be fine, here." Ayame put her ands out in front of her and focused her energy. Soon Miu was surrounded by a dark purple bubble. "That shield will stay up until a) I let it down or b) I get knocked unconscious." Miu nodded in understanding. "I'll be right back."

Ayame walked into the woods toward where she felt a slight energy signal but it was fading. 'It must have gotten hurt when it landed.' She soon came to an area of the woods where a bunch of branches had broken off of the surrounding trees. She starred in surprise at the body laying on top of them. He had black gravity defying hair, a white starburst in the center. There was a white bandana tied around his forehead as well as a bandage around his right arm. He was wearing a black tank top and baggy pants to match, a katana by his side, she also noticed that he was slightly taller then her, but only a few inches. "Miu! Come give me a hand!" Ayame walked closer and check the guys pulse, as well as an energy signal. Cuts and scrapes covered his body, some made by the trees others made by a weapon of some sort. 'He was fighting something recently, those wounds are fresh.' A twig snapped nearby, causing Ayame to turn.

"Is the demon gone?" Miu asked as she came up behind you. "No actually, he's unconscious. And he's not a demon, he's an apportion. Come on, help me get him to my house." Miu stood still for a moment. "He's not bad Miu." Ayame stated while gazing at her friend with icy blue eyes. "Huh, oh it's not that. I was just noticing his hair. It's all spiky, how much gel do you think he uses." "Miu, now's really no the time." Miu snapped out of it. "Oops sorry."

at Ayame's house

Ayame set the guy on the bed in the guest room of her house. "Miu, I need you to bring me the first aid kit and the ointment." Miu nodded and took off for the down stairs. Ayame pulled the black shirt off of him and realized it was covered in blood as well as ripped in many places. 'Geez this guy lost a lot of blood, it's a wonder he's still alive.'

"I got the stuff, I brought of a couple of wet rags as well." Miu stated as she entered the room. "Thanks Miu." Ayame grabbed one of the rags and started cleaning the wounds. "Well there's something I don't see everyday." Miu said while giggling. "What?" Miu pointed at Ayame. "Usually I'm bandaging you. It's kind of weird to watch you bandage someone else." Ayame smirked and tied the bandage off. "There all done." She set a roll of bandages on the table next to the bed along with the ointment.

"Thanks for your help Miu, sorry we couldn't spend the afternoon hanging out like old times." Miu shook her head. "Don't worry about it, you have a duty to protect the city. Naoko, the boys, and I understand." Ayame smiled. "Thanks, apologize to Naoko for me." Miu nodded. She looked at her watch and gasped. "Ahh, I'm gunna be late for soccer practice." She ran toward the steps, stopped and turned back to Ayame. "Call me when and let me know if he's alright later on, Ja ne." "Ja ne, Miu."

Ayame closed the door to the room and headed for her own. As she did, she glanced at the locked door next to it. The room hadn't been opened for a few years now, and thinking about it just made it hurt more. She felt tears try to force their way out but she forced them back, she hadn't cried in a long time, she refused to.

Once in her room, Ayame grabbed her drawing book and then headed back downstairs. She sat down at the table and started to sketch what ever came to her mind. After a while the picture started to take on shape. A girl with long hair flowing down her back stood in the middle of a field. Beautiful wings adorned her back and two short swords where clasped in her hand. Flames danced around her, but left her unharmed. Her eyes starred back, reflecting a mixture of sorrow, pain, and somehow joy and victory as well. Ayame studied the picture; it wasn't like her to draw something with so much detail. She set the pad and pencil down and started on dinner.

She had just finished getting out two bowls for the soup when she felt the energy of her guest upstairs, spike dramatically. 'I guess he's awake.' She put dished up a bowl of soup and put on a tray with a cup of tea, then headed upstairs with it.

Ayame set the tray on the floor next to the door, then knocked. "Hello, are you alright in there?" No answer. "I brought you something to eat, your probably hungry after recovering." still nothing. eye twitch "I know your awake in there." There was still no answer. Ayame turned the doorknob and walked into the room. The bed was empty save for some old bandages, and the window was open. 'He ran off! I helped him out and everything and he goes and disappears with out a word!' "That jerk, errr he's lucky I don't know who he is." Ayame leaned out the window and looked around. Nothing.

She sighed in defeat and turned to go back to the door only to come face to face, umm, well, point with a katana. She looked up from the blade into two crimson eyes. "Uhh, if this is how you thank somebody, I'd hate to see what you do to those that hurt you." "Hn, that doesn't happen." The crimson eyed guy replied. "Ahh, so you can talk. Oh, and obviously it does seeing as how me and my friend carried your unconscious body back here." Ayame felt the tip of the katana push harder on her neck.

She sighed then snickered. "What so funny?" Ayame glared at the guy. "Oh nothing, but why don't you take a look at your stomach before you start getting any ideas." The man looked down and saw a dagger only a few centimeters from his already wounded abdomen. He smirked and removed his katana. Ayame did the same with her dagger.

"So what's your name?" Ayame asked as she leaned against the window frame. "Hn, why should I tell you." eye twitch again "Look unless you want me to start calling you spike, I suggest you tell me your name." The guy paused for a moment. "Hiei" Ayame smiled. "Nice to meet you Hiei, I'm Ayame Mitzuru."

Ayame walked toward the door and grabbed the tray. "And this is your dinner. I hope you like Miso soup, cause it's all I have right now." She set the tray down on a table and turned to Hiei. "When you're done eating just leave the tray outside your door. I'll be right back with a change of clothes for you." Before Hiei could protest Ayame left the room. Hiei looked over at the soup, and then sat down. He tasted it and found that it was surprisingly good.

Ayame came back with a black t-shirt and a pair of black sweat pants. "I'm pretty sure these will fit you. I'll leave them on the bed. When you get done and stuff bring the clothes your wearing now down with you so that I can wash them, there covered in blood." Hiei didn't reply, he just starred at her. "What?" "Where am I?" Ayame gave him a puzzled look. "You're in Kyoto, why?" Hiei looked back down at his soup. "Something wrong?" "I don't belong here."


	2. Explanations

Shonoki: Sitting in corner sulking

Kuwabara: What's your problem?

Shonoki: Hiei stole all my chocolate and hid it on me.

Kuwa: Why?

Hiei: She wouldn't stop pouncing on stuff. Giving her chocolate is like giving a cat catnip.

Shonoki: cat ears pop out along with tail Meow.

Kuwa: Kitty!  
Shonoki: Touch me and die Kuwabara! Anyway, hello everyone. I realize that I didn't describe Ayame very well in the last chapter so here it goes.

Ayame, age: unknown (she about 19 in human years but looks younger)

Hair: blonde with red tips, it goes down to the small of her back put it's mostly in a ponytail.

Eyes: Icy blue, will change with form.

Height: 5'2"

Shonoki: That should do it. Now if you'll excuse me I have chocolate to go find.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ayame looked at Hiei questioningly. "Excuse me?"

"I said I don't belong here. How did I get here?" He asked as he turned to her. Ayame thought a moment.

"To tell the truth, you fell from the sky. You landed in the woods out back. I was actually going to ask you how you managed to do that seeing as how fire apparitions can't fly."

Hiei looked at her accusingly. "You're a demon?" Ayame smirked. "No I'm the same as you minus the koorime part. I'm part psychic instead."

She smiled and looked at Hiei. "So where are you from?"

Hiei didn't answer, he just continued eating his soup. "You're a quiet one aren't you?" Ayame asked sarcastically.

"What was your first clue?"

"You know, you could at least say thank you. I mean I did bring you to my house and bandaged you up without having a clue as to who you are."

"Hn." Hiei closed his eyes and ate silently.

"Alright fine." Ayame sighed and left the room. "Don't forget to bring your stuff down when you're done." She called before going down stairs.

Hiei sat in the room for thinking after she left. 'What am I doing here? Is Ryu dead or not? I could have sworn I was about to get rid of him when…' Hiei stopped, realization hitting him hard. He dug in his pockets and pulled out a small communicator. He flipped it open and pressed one of the buttons.

Koenma appeared on the screen and seemed to be relieved to see Hiei, but only briefly.

"Hiei! Where are you?! Do you have any idea the state of chaos I am in right now?! Ryu still has the Key!"

Hiei glared boredly at the screen as the tiny ruler went on. When he had finally finished Hiei had found out that the rest of the Rekai Tentai was also missing.

"I'm in Kyoto, and no I don't know where the idiots and fox are. I'm the only one here as far as I know. Now how do I get back?"

Koenma was silent for a moment, deep in thought. "I hate to tell you this Hiei but until we are able to retrieve the key you won't be able to return to Tokyo or Spirit World."

"You mean he's stuck here!" Ayame's voice sounded from the doorway. She stood with one foot in the room and two bowls of ice cream in her hands.

"Who is that, Hiei?" Koenma asked his head turned as if he were trying to look around the screen.

"Her name is Ayame and" Hiei started, but Ayame cut him off.

"He knows very well who I am!" Ayame walked up to Hiei, set both bowls of sweet snow down on the tray, then grabbed the communicator.

"Ahh Ayame! Your still alive?!" Koenma said in surprise.

"Very funny Koenma. If I died you would have been the first to know. Now explain to me what he's doing here and why he won't be leaving any time soon."

Koenma cleared his throat. "Well you see, recently a demon by the name of Ryu has stolen my Portal Key. With it he can create portals where ever he pleases. We had tracked him down and I sent my Spirit Detectives after him."

"But why is he here?" Ayame asked impatiently while pointing to Hiei, who was sitting on the windowsill with his sweet snow.

"I'm getting to that! As I was saying, they were fighting Ryu when he opened up multiple portals. Hiei is one of my detectives, there are three others who locations are unknown at this point."

Ayame nodded. "That might have something to do with the increase in demon attacks recently."

Koenma looked at her suspiciously. "What increase?"

"The number of demon has basically tripled in the past few weeks. It's getting harder to track them as well. I'm going on fours hours of sleep right now." Ayame answered.

"Why wasn't I notified of this?"

Ayame's eye started to twitch. "Maybe because I have yet to receive a new communicator. My old one is still broken."

Koenma sweat dropped. "Oh, heheh. Yes well since I have no way of getting that to you, you'll just have to use Hiei's. By the way, he will be staying with you until I can get him back here."

"Huh?" Ayame just about fell over. 'Why me? Can't I just put in a hotel? Oh well'

"Hiei, you are to help Ayame with any demon attacks while you are in Kyoto. Is that understood?"

Hiei paid no mind to him.

"Darn it Hiei answer me!"

"Hn."

"Well I guess that will have to do." Koenma said while rubbing his temples. "I need a vacation. Any way, I wish you luck in the future Ayame, and keep me posted on the attacks. I'll be checking in in the future." Koenma stopped and was about to end the transmission when a thought crossed his mind. "Umm, please try not to kill each other. Goodbye."

Ayame shut the communicator and tossed it back at Hiei. "So how do you no the toddler?" He asked after putting it back in his pocket.

Ayame picked up her half melted bowl off sweet snow and sat on the floor. "I'm his tracker here in Kyoto. I'm the only one he has here."

"How's that different from a Detective." Hiei asked emotionlessly.

"I don't ever leave Kyoto. Unlike you, I don't get the luxury to travel to the spirit World or the Makai." Ayame looked out the door as if deep in thought. She snapped out of it and put her empty ice cream bowl on the tray. "Are you finished?"

Hiei nodded and handed her his empty bowl. She took it and left the room. "I'll let you change. Your welcome to take a shower if you want the bathroom is the second door to your left that way." She pointed down the hall.

Hiei again nodded and Ayame left the room. She walked down stares and looked at the sketch book on the table. The wind had blown in from the window and had turned the pages. It now laid opened to a picture of a boy who looked to be in his early twenties. His hair was white and cut short, and he had violet eyes. Ayame put the tray down and quickly shut the book. 'Damn it Riku, why did you have to go do something so stupid?'

* * *

Shonoki: Well there's the second chapter. Hope you all liked it.

Yusuke: Ha-ha, Hiei's lost.

Hiei: Knocks out Yusuke Baka!

Shonoki: Yeah umm, please review, no new chapter till you do. I want at minimum five.

Yusuke: You really think you'll get that many.

Shonoki: claws Yusuke across the face then knocks him out Shut up Yusuke. Review please!


	3. A new tracker

Shonoki: Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying yourselves. (Looks at review numbers) Huh, only three reviews, oh well, close enough to five.

Hiei: You're awfully calm today....What did you do?

Shonoki: (looks innocent) Nothin'

(Muffled groans coming from closet)

Hiei: What was that?

Shonoki: Uhhh (sweatdrop)

Hiei: (walks over to closet and opens it.)

Yusuke and Kuwabara: (bound and gagged) mmph, grmph mmphgrph

Hiei: Do I-

Shonoki: Don't ask. I only own Ayame.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ayame was sitting on her front porch sketching once again. She had decided to put some details into the picture of the winged warrior as she had dubbed it.

"What are you doing?"

Ayame turned to see Hiei wearing the clothes she had laid out for him. They fit him surprisingly well. "I'm drawing, just and idea I had." Ayame stood up and closed her sketch book before Hiei had a chance to see anything. "Do they fit okay?" Hiei nodded.

"Where are your clothes?" she asked. Hiei motioned toward the door that led to the laundry room. "Okay, you can have them back as soon as there clean and fixed. I'm surprised you were still wearing them, they were so torn up."

Ayame walked over to the pile and picked it up. "If you're still hungry there's still some soup left, other then that, make yourself at home." Hiei watched as she put his clothes into the washer before walking into the living room and perching himself on the window sill.

Ayame shut the door to the laundry room just as the phone rang. She walked over and picked it up.

"Hello, Mitzuru residence."

"Ayame, this is Miu."

"Hey Miu, what's new?"

"Hopefully the condition of that hot guy you picked up." Ayame heard some one yell in the background.

"I take it Naoko's there."

"Umm yeah, huh....She wants to talk to you. Just a sec."

"Hey Ayame, where have you been? I haven't seen you in at least a week. You missed movie night at Miu's twice!"

Naoko Tome was another one of Ayame's best friends. She was taller then Miu by and inch which put her at 5'7". She had short hair that was died blue. She was a fighter and usually sparred off with Ayame. Like Miu she too knew about the demon and Spirit world.

"Heh, sorry Naoko. I've been really busy lately, you know how it is." Ayame's voice dropped and sounded disappointed. She hated letting her friends down, she barely saw them any more.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll hook up some other time. Hey Miu told me about your new friend so what's he like?"

"Uh well, I think that should wait some other time, he doesn't seem like the type who likes to be talked about." At this comment, Hiei turned his attention to the girl on the phone. 'At least she's respecting my privacy.' Hiei closed his eyes again and listened to the conversation the best he could.

"Alright fine. Hey Koji and Sage got a gig, they'll be playing in town soon." Koji was Naoko's boyfriend and Sage was Miu's. They played in their own band, Koji being lead singer as well as playing guitar. Sage played bass as well and was good at it.

"Wow, that's great let me know when it is. I'll try to go see them."

"Alright sounds good. Ack, just a sec Miu. I got to go, here's Miu Ja ne Ayame. Keep in touch."

"Will do, bye Naoko."

"Alright, well I guess Naoko already told you about the boys. My mom is calling us now, she needs the phone."

"Alright, I'll talk to ya later Miu. Sayournara."

"Sayournara."

Ayame hung up the phone with a sigh. She glanced at the clock and smiled. "Things are going good, two hours and not a single attack."

"You shouldn't jinx things." Hiei said in monotone, his eyes still closed. Ayame smiled, "Yeah your probably right." No sooner had the words left her mouth did her tracker start beeping.

"Told you." Ayame glared at him and then at the infernal device now in her hand. "This better not take long. Are you coming Hiei...Hiei?" Ayame looked at he window were he was sitting only moments before, to see that he had disappeared. "I'm over here." Hiei said from the door way. He had his katana.

Ayame grabbed hers as well and walked toward the door. "Alright then, lets go."

At location

Ayame and Hiei had followed the tracker to the location of the demon which was in a park area. A couple that had been dating in the wrong place at the wrong time, were cowering against one of the stone walls as the demon loomed over them.

"So how do you do this?" Hiei asked once he saw the target. "Pretty simple, eliminate the threat." In a flash both apparitions were gone and attacking the demon. The demon howled in pain as cold metal sliced down and across his stomach. Ayame stood in front of the monster, back to the humans. "Go! Get out of here!" The two nodded and left at a run.

The demon tried going after them but was blocked by both Hiei and Ayame. "You let my dinner run away." The demon hissed. Judging by the scaly skin, reptile like eyes, and the toxic smell coming from his breath, Ayame guessed he was a lizard type demon. "Oh well, you two will do nicely.

The demon charged at the two with his claws out. The fire apparitions dodged to opposite sides. Hiei kicked back as he did and sent the demon into the ground face first. The lizard quickly recovered but not quick enough to block the blade of Ayame's sword. In desperation he tried to dodge to the side but only succeeded in having the blade go through his shoulder and pinning him to the ground.

"Bad move." Ayame said quietly. Hiei saw Ayame's eyes flash from their normal blue to a shade of bright orange. Almost instantly the Lizard was incinerated. Ash was all that was left, and that too disappeared with the wind that blew by.

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?" Hiei asked as Ayame pulled her katana from the ground. "I have to have some sort of contact with the enemy. I can't just spontaneously combust things on a whim. It would be nice though."

It had grown dark by the time Hiei and Ayame had reached her house again. "I'm going to get washed up and changed for bed, Goodnight Hiei." Ayame said once they were inside. "Hn." was his only reply. He watched her ascend the stairs then walked back into the living room. He looked around and saw a family picture on the wall.

Ayame was only what looked like 6 in the picture. She sat on top of an older boys shoulders. Hiei figured it was her brother even though he looked nothing like Ayame. Their parents stood behind them content smiles on there faces. Ayame was the spitting image of her mother. Blonde hair and icy blue eyes. The boy was different though. His eyes were violet and his hair was white. And the father figure didn't look like he belonged at all.

'Were is everyone else in this picture?' Hiei asked himself as looked some of the other pictures. There were only three others containing the parents. The rest were of Ayame when she was still young, and the white haired boy.

"They don't live in this world anymore." Ayame's voice replied closer than Hiei had realized she was standing. He turned to Ayame and saw a mix of sorrow and pain behind her eyes. "My parents died when me and my brother were still young. I was 6 in human years, my brother was 10."

Hiei watched the girl lean against the wall, deep in thought. "My brother died four years ago. Hm, it doesn't really seem that long ago." "How did they die?" Hiei asked after a pause. "All three were killed by other demons, not the same one mind you." Ayame walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water. "Any way, I just came down to tell you that you can help your self to what ever you are able to find for breakfast tomorrow morning. Goodnight."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shonoki: There you go, chapter three. Review please. It keeps me typing.

Yusuke & Kuwabara: (still bound and gagged) gmph frmphmmph.

Hiei: I think I might just leave them that way.

Y&K: GRMMPGH FRMPH!!!

Shonoki: hahaha that ot to teach you to mock my stories. Again REVIEW!!!


	4. Practice session

Shonoki: (has head down on desk and is mumbling)

Yusuke: Hey are you alright? (poke)

Shonoki: (Doesn't notice and continues to mumble)

Kurama: Her Final Exams started today, she was up all last night studying.

Yusuke: Ohh, (pokes her again)

(Continues to poke her.)

Shonoki: (lifts head off table and stares blankly at Yusuke) Poke me again and I WILL remove your fingers.

Yusuke: Umm, right (runs off)

Shonoki: I only own Ayame.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ayame was sleeping soundly when Hiei walked into her room. The phone had rang a few minutes ago and he regretted picking it up. Naoko had basically insisted on talking his ear off until he agreed on waking up Ayame.

Hiei walked over to her bed and shook her shoulder. "Wake up onna, you have a phone call." The only answer he received where a few inaudible mumbles. Hiei shook her harder and with still no affect. He placed the phone to his ear.

"You're going to have to call back. She won't wake up." Naoko snickered on the other line. "You just don't know how to wake her up." Hiei cocked an eyebrow. "There's a certain way?" "She's going to pummel me for telling you this... You have to tickle her, mainly on the sides."

"You can call back later." "Oh, come on. It won't be that bad. Please." Hiei gave a "Hn," and set the phone down. He was willing to do anything to get Naoko to shut up. He walked over to the edge of the bed. He grabbed Ayame by her sides and began to tickle her. Instantly she was out of her sleep coma and trying desperately to get away from Hiei.

"I'm up, I'm awake!!" she cried while crawling into the corner of her bed. Hiei stopped with a triumphant smirk and handed her the phone before leaving without a word. Ayame looked after him, a little puzzled before putting the phone to her ear.

"I'm going to hurt you severely Naoko." she said in a low voice. Naoko began to laugh. "Oh come on Ayame, I asked him to do it because I had important news." "This better be good. I was enjoying my first uninterrupted sleep for the week."

"Sorry, I just wanted to let you know that the boys will be playing at the Moon Shadow Café tonight. They start at 9:00." Ayame smiled. "That's great, I'll try to make it if I can. No promises though."

"I know, the boys will understand. Me and Naoko will meet you there okay." Ayame nodded. "Alright, see ya then." Ayame clicked off the phone and got dressed. She went downstairs to see Hiei sitting in the living room window sill eating an apple. "Good morning, or at least it would have been if I wasn't woken up so rudely." Hiei smirked and looked out the window. Ayame walked up next to him with her cup of tea. "You home sick or something?" she asked. Hiei shook his head. "I don't have a home." Ayame leaned against the wall and sipped her tea. "So you travel a lot then?" "You could say that." Ayame nodded and finished her tea before she walked off to the Laundry room. She soon returned caring a folded pile of clothes.

"Here you go." She handed the pile to Hiei. He took them. "Hn, thanks." Ayame smiled, "No problem, I sewed up the rips too, by the way." Hiei held up the shirt and looked it over. Sure enough all the rips were sewed, you couldn't even tell they were there in the first place.

Hiei heard Ayame at the door. "Where are you going?" Ayame looked up from putting her shoes on. "Training. Want to come?" Hiei nodded and followed her out the door.

In the Field

Hiei and Ayame stood in a field, a few steps away from each other. A few trees were scattered around the field as where a few large rocks. A lake was off to the side, in a small alcove of trees. "Ready when you are." Ayame said as she held her katana. Hiei drew his and smirked. In a blink he was no longer visible.

Ayame sensed him and brought her katana into a block on her right. The sound of striking metal sounded through out the field. They broke and Ayame charged she feinted an attack with her katana and instead sent a kick to Hiei's ribs. He grabbed her by the ankle and tossed her across the field. Ayame skid to a halt and instantly blocked and dodged a number of attacks from Hiei.

"You're holding back." Hiei stated when his onslaught was finished. Ayame smirked. "That obvious, huh?" Hiei nodded. "Alright then." She held her katana out in front of her with one hand and pressed the palm of the other hand pressed on the bottom of the hilt. Ayame eyes flashed again, the same way they had when she incinerated the lizard demon.

Hiei watched as flames wound there way around the blade.

Ayame shot at Hiei with increased speed, her katana poised for a downward slash. Hiei brought his Katana over his head to block. At the last moment, Ayame switched her attacks and slammed her elbow into his shoulder. Hiei dropped his katana as he lost control of his muscles. Ayame smirked and went in to attack once more. This time Hiei dodged and kicked Ayame in the side sending her into a nearby tree. As Ayame recovered Hiei picked up his katana once more.

Ayame looked up a little too late to block Hiei's attack, he pinned her to the tree. "I win." he stated calmly. Ayame smirked. "Not quite." Hiei saw her Eyes flash again. He jumped back as a wall of flames shot up in between him and Ayame. "Your turn to quit holding back." she called once her barrier disappeared. "Your death wish." Hiei unwrapped his bandages on his arm to reveal a tattoo of a black dragon.

Ayame's eyes widened. She knew exactly what that was, and she wasn't about to find out if she could withstand a hit from it. Hiei picked up on her uneasiness and smirked. "You asked for it." Ayame gulped. "Dragon of the Darkness Flame!" The dragon on Hiei's arm shot toward Ayame, faster then she anticipated. 'Here goes.' Ayame brought her sword in front of her and plunged it into the ground. Energy pulsed through it then exploded just before the dragon hit her.

As the dust cleared, Hiei could make out Ayame's form standing in a good sized crater. She was leaning against her katana for support, but other than that she was fine. 'The dragon didn't hit her.' Hiei noticed as the girl steadied herself once more. She flicked her wrist as she did but Hiei didn't notice.

Ayame held the daggers in her hand by the blade with the tips of her fingers. 'This is going to take a lot of energy but-'Beep Beep Beep Ayame resheathed her daggers and pulled out her tracker. "Where going to have to postpone out match Hiei." she called as she held up the tiny compact. Hiei resheathed his katana and walked up to her. "Where is it?" Ayame looked at the tracker. "Eh, it's in the city area. Great, now we'll have an audience." she replied, sarcasm hanging heavily in her last comment. "Well lets go."

Shonoki: Sorry it's not that exciting, I promise it will get better. My brain is just sort of fried right now is all.

Yusuke: It was only the first day of Exams.

Shonoki: Yeah and I have two more days to go. I hate Finals.

Hiei: Hn, you wouldn't have to stress about it if you studied like you were suppose to.

Shonoki: Oh shut it. Please review people. Ja Ne.


	5. False alarm

Shonoki: Now that my exams are over with and my brain has had time to relax I can type again. Yippee!

Hiei: You have competitions in a month.

Shonoki: (stops celebrating) Drat! Anyway, hope you all liked the last chapter, sorry it was so short.

Yusuke: Like you. (Starts laughing with Kuwabara)

Shonoki: (chucks a book at the two)

Yusuke and Kuwabara: Owww, what was that for?

Shonoki: For being stupid.

(Continues arguing with them)

Kurama: (sigh) Uhh, she doesn't own the Yu Yu gang.

* * *

Ayame and Hiei raced to the location of the demon attack. A concerned look crossed over Ayame's features. Portals hardly ever opened up in the city, Koenma had made sure the strongest points of the barrier were in those areas.

"What's the matter?" Hiei asked when he had seen the concern in her eyes. Ayame snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him.

"It's nothing, I was just hoping Ryu doesn't open any more portals in the city. Sense Koenma can't send anybody here from Spirit World; there won't be any memory demons to erase what people will probably see today." Hiei nodded.

The duo stopped when they came to the location of where the demon was supposed to be. There was only one small problem, nothing was wrong.

"Are you sure that thing is functioning properly, there's no demon here." Hiei stated while examining all the people bustling through the streets.

Ayame opened her locater again and checked it. Sure enough the dot was still there, blinking continuously. "I'm sure. It should be right here." Ayame looked up into the crowd. There really was no demon; there wasn't even any energy signal, or at least not one that she could read. "This really is strange," She checked the locater one more time.

The red dot blinked a few more times before fading away. "Well it's gone now." Ayame heard a growl of irritation come from Hiei. "I'm not happy about it either you know." Hiei gave an "hn" in response. "Now what?" he asked. Ayame shrugged. "I guess we should stick around incase it decides to show up again." Ayame walked toward a store. "Besides I'm out of food and I now have an extra person to feed."

Hiei glared after her. "Aren't you coming?" Ayame asked when he didn't follow. "Hn, why should I?" Hiei replied. Ayame glared back at him, "Because mister tough guy, I don't know what you like to eat, and unless you come with me you may not eat at all."

Ayame turned to go into the store. Hiei growled under his breath and followed after her reluctantly.

Afterwards-

"Well, this should last for a while." Ayame said while leaving the store with a few bags in hand. Hiei came out after only carrying two bags to the four that Ayame had. "I can't believe you only bought two cartons of sweet snow."

"Hn." Hiei replied while smirking. "Has the demon come up on that tracker yet?" Ayame pulled the device from her pocket and examined it. "No it hasn't, I guess it was just a glitch or something." She pocketed it once more and turned to Hiei. "We should head home and drop these off, I have somewhere to be tonight, and I'm pretty sure you don't want those to melt." She said while pointing to Hiei's bags.

"Where are you going tonight?" Hiei asked. "I told Naoko that if I wasn't busy tonight I'd meet her and Miu at a Café to watch some friends play in their band." Ayame smiled as a thought crossed her mind. "You wanna come?"

Hiei looked at her like she had lost her mind. "I have better things to do than sit around with you and a bunch of girls while you talk about nonsense." Ayame glared at him. "You could have just said no."

* * *

Shonoki: I'm ending here for tonight, I have stuff todo and why brain doesn't feel like working. I'll try again later. Review please. 


	6. Surprise!

Shonoki: (Curled up in corner under a mound of blankets.) So...cold.

Hiei: Turn the heat up.

Shonoki: I did, the heaters taking forever to warm up.

Hiei: So go put a jacket on.

Shonoki: Hiei, I'm wearing my winter coat and gloves right now.

Hiei:...

Shonoki: Hello people, as you can guess it is cold right now. Outside it is about umm, -9! Yeah it's only about 2 degrees warmer than that inside. I **_HATE_** the cold! Anyway, lets get to the story before I lose the feeling in my fingers.

Disclaimer: I do not own YYH, just everything else that doesn't belong in the show.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to come, Hiei?" Ayame asked as she threw her hair up into a ponytail. She was wearing a red blouse with a pair of black pants. "Hn, I'm sure." Hiei replied coldly.

Ayame frowned a little. "Alright." she grabbed her tracker and cell phone and stuffed them into a backpack type purse. "The Café is right near the spot where we picked up that demon this morning. I'll call if I get anything." Hiei gave another "Hn." and just stared out the window wear he was seated.

"I'll be back in about and hour and a half, lock the door if you leave of go to bed." Another "Hn." Ayame sighed and opened the door to leave. "See ya later Hiei."

At the Moon Shadow Café

"Hey Ayame" Miu called from there table a little ways from the stage where her and Naoko sat. Ayame smiled and went over to the table. "Hey guys, how's it going?" Naoko gave a grin. "It going great we didn't think you would make it at first."

Ayame sat down with a triumphant grin. "I got lucky, the only attack today turned out to be a dud." The lights dimmed and a spotlight shined down on the center of the stage where a blonde haired teen stood, he had deep blue eyes and his hair was slightly spiked. He looked over at the table where the three girls sat and winked.

"Hey Naoko, looks like Koji spotted us." Ayame teased. Naoko blushed then waved up at Koji.

Koji grabbed the mike as the curtain behind him opened up, revealing the band. The bass player, Sage, nodded over to the girls table. Miu couldn't help but giggle and wave. 'I'm glad there having fun.' Ayame thought as the band started up.

Breath in right away,

Nothing seems to fill this place.

I need this every time,

So take your lies,

Get off my case.

Koji voice carried through the café. "I forgot how good they were." Ayame said as she sipped a glass of water a waitress brought. Naoko and Miu giggled a little from their seats. "What's so funny?" Ayame asked.

"We have something to show you back stage." Miu said as she motioned to the curtain. "Huh? But I want to hear the rest of the song." Ayame protested. "You'll be able to hear it back stage." Naoko said while getting up. "So lets go."

Ayame followed the girls backstage and stood in the make shift dressing room. "So what was so important that we couldn't wait till after the song." She asked. Miu smiled and handed her Koji's list of songs to be sang for the night.

"Yeah so?" Ayame said after looking at the titles. "Take a look at who's singing song number three." Naoko chided. Ayame looked at the sheet again then dropped it when she saw the name. "You can not be serious." The sound of clapping and cheering could be heard from the front of the café.

"Sounds like the first song is done." Naoko said with a grin. "Why is my name on that sheet?" Ayame asked, still not sure if she should run or pound the girls into the ground. "We haven't heard you sing in a long time." Miu said while taking Ayame's hair out of the ponytail. "Koji and Sage thought this would be fun idea."

Ayame sighed in defeat as Miu began putting a small braid in on the side of her head. She looked up and spotted Naoko heading toward the door. "Where are you going?" Naoko stopped dead and her tracks and put on a cheesy grin. "I, umm... I'm just gunna go tell the waitress not to take our drinks." She replied in fake innocence.

"Uh huh, you better not do anything that you're going to regret, Tome." Ayame said teasingly. "Oh never, Ms. Mitzuru." Naoko replied then dashed off.

Naoko ran out the back door then dialed a number on her cell phone.

ring, ring

"Hello,"

"Hi, Hiei? This is Naoko. I think there's something you should come see."

Back with Miu and Ayame

"I can't believe you guys did this." Ayame said as Miu watched the end of the song from behind the back curtain. "Okay he's about to announce you." She said excitedly.

Cheers and applause sounded once more as Koji and the band finished there song.

"Good evening ladies and gents, and thank you for coming out her tonight to watch us perform. It's good to know we have so many fans back here at home." more applause. "Speaking of fans, there's one in particular that we would like to introduce to you, she's lived here all her life and is an up and coming singer. Ladies and gentlemen I give you Ayame Mitzuru."

Miu pushed Ayame out on stage as the crowd began to applaud and cheer. Ayame walked over to Koji and smiled weakly. "You have some explaining to do later." she mumbled. Koji grinned and handed her the microphone. "Knock'em dead." he said then clapped her on the back.

'They are so dead.' Ayame thought as the music started playing.

Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom

Well who am I to keep you down

It's only right that you should play the way you feel it

But listen carefully to the sound

Of your loneliness

Like a heartbeat drives you mad

In the stillness of remembering what you had

And what you lost

Yeah, thunder only happens when it's raining

Players only love you when they're playen

Yeah, women they will come and they will go

When the rain washes you clean you'll know, you'll know...

Now here I go again, I see the crystal visions

I keep my visions to myself

Well It's only me that wants to wrap around your dreams and

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell

Dreams of loneliness

Like a heartbeat drives you mad

In the stillness of remembering what you had

(Drives you mad,) and what you lost, (remember what you had)

Thunder only happens when it's raining

(Thunder only happens when it's...)

Players only love you when they're playing

(Players only love you when they're...)

Yeah, women they will come and they will go, (they will go...)

When the rain washes you clean you'll know...

Yeah, thunder only happens when it's raining

(Thunder only happens when it's...)

Players only love you when they're playing

(Players only love you when they're...)

Yeah, women they will come and they will go, (they will go...)

When the rain washes you clean you'll know...

You'll know, (the heartbeat drives you mad,) you'll know, (remember what you had)

You'll know...

(I do not own this song, It's Dreams by The Corrs)

There was silence after Ayame ended the song, complete and udder silence.

'Was I that bad.' Then a someone started clapping...then another and another. Pretty soon the whole audience was standing up clapping and cheering. Ayame smiled and took a bow then walked back behind the curtain after thanking the band.

"Ayame you were awesome." Miu cheered after she hugged the girl to death. "Heh, Thanks Miu." Naoko came over and gave her a high five. "Yeah, you rock." Ayame smiled. "Remind me to call you next time I can't sing." Koji put in. "Yeah, you should of done that this time, but I thank you anyways. It was fun."

"Hn." Ayame's eyes widened as she realized who the remark came from. She turned toward the stage exit to see Hiei leaning against the door frame. "Wh-What are you doing here?" she asked, trying very hard to hide the color her cheeks wanted to turn.

"She called me and told me there was something I needed to see." Hiei replied while pointing toward Naoko. Naoko rubbed the back of her head and whistled innocently. "Me and you are going to have a talk about what qualifies as doing something-" CRASH

Ayame was interrupted by the sound of panicked screams and the front wall of the café collapsing. "What the hell?" As the words left Koji's mouth Ayames locater started beeping like crazy.

"I guess it wasn't a dud." Ayame turned to see Hiei ready with his katana. She turned to the others to see that the rest of the band had joined them. "Stay here and if anything makes past us you get the hell out of here." The group nodded and stared as Hiei and Ayame charged headlong into the chaos.

Hiei and Ayame looked out over the debris and scatterd people to see a rather large bat looking demon standing in the hole in the wall. A few people ran past the two as they made there way toward the demon.

* * *

Shonoki: There you go. So what will happen in the upcoming battle. You'll just have to wait and find out. There will be a lot more action in the next chapter, that I promise. Rate and Review please. 


	7. Traitor

Shonoki: Hello everyone, hope you enjoyed the last chapter. ...I don't really have much to say. So on with this chapter.

I only own everybody who's NOT in YYH

* * *

Recap: Hiei and Ayame had just gone off to fight the demon that attacked the café.

* * *

Ayame and Hiei Made their way through the crowd of panicking people toward the demon. When they finally cleared what they saw surprised both of them. A group of about ten to fifteen demons stood in the gaping hole that used to be a wall.

"What the hell! How did they all get through?" Ayame cried as she unsheathed a couple of daggers. "These can't be the ones that we lost this morning, there's too many."

"It doesn't matter, we have to get rid of them either way." Hiei and Ayame charged simultaneously at the group, only to pass right through them. "Umm, unless they are faster then us I don't think those things are real." Ayame stated as she turned toward the images. "Nice observation." Hiei replied, sarcasm hanging heavy on his words.

Ayame scanned the crowd of people still in the café for any signs of spirit energy matching the forest green surrounding the images. "Whoever's doing this isn't in the café, Hiei." Hiei looked around, the only things in the café were ningens, and only a couple had potential spirit energy, but not enough for this sort of charade.

"There!" Ayame pointed to an ally way down the street, the same forest green spirit energy radiated from around the corner of it. Hiei took off toward the ally. Ayame looked back once at the group of people before putting a barrier up around the wall. 'Please let them think this was for a movie or something'

Ayame rounded the corner to see Hiei cornering a snake looking demon. Hiei turned to look at her as she walked down the ally. "Before you kill him I would like a word." She said. Hiei nodded and took a step to the side. The demon stood up straight and scowled at Ayame.

"What do you want trai-uhh!" Ayame slammed her arm up against the demons throat, forcing him to the wall behind him. "Finish that sentence and I will put you through worse things then death." She said in threatening voice. The demon clawed at Ayame's arm put succeeded in only ripping up her sleeve. "Now don't tell me, you're here to kill me right?"

Hiei was a little taken aback by the rapid change in the girls personality, though he didn't show it. He just stood off to the side and watched her interrogate the unlucky demon.

"You are a traitor! I will kill you for your crimes!" The demon said as he tried to bite Ayame's hand. Ayame's eyes hardened as in one motion she released the demon and tossed him to the ground with a sickening thud while also dislocating his arm. "You have two choices. One, you can go ahead and try to fight me and I kill you that way." she put pressure on the demons spine with her foot. "Or two, You can go back to Makai and tell who ever hired you to come after me themselves. And don't lie and say you're here on your own, because I can tell your not suicidal."

The demon gulped as he ran his choices. "I-I'll go back." he sputtered. Ayame removed her foot from his back and then kicked the demon into a nearby dumpster. "One and only warning." the demon nodded as it ran off. Hiei smirked as Ayame took a deep breath and simmered down.

"Are you really going to let him go back?" Ayame looked over at Hiei and nodded. "Some one needs to get my message to who ever wants my head, besides, once his employer finds out he failed he'll probably die anyway." Ayame began walking in the direction the demon went.

"Why is some one after you?" Hiei asked as he walked next to her. "I'm sometimes referred to as a traitor because I kill demons who get through the barriers. Some higher up demons don't like this so I get the occasional hired assassin after me."

Ayame watched as the snake demon put one clawed finger to the ground near a tree and ripped it. A vortex like portal opened and the demon walked in, the portal closing behind him. "At least this one listened." She leaned against a tree and examined her ripped up sleeve. "You act like this doesn't bother you." Hiei stated coldly while sitting to the side of the tree. "The assassin part doesn't. Being called a traitor does though. They think they can call me it just because of my job, when they do exactly the same thing for no reason. It ticks me off".

There was a moment of silence between the two as the summer wind blew past. Ayame pricked up a bit when she sensed something. "What's the matter?" Hiei asked as she stood up. "Something's coming." As if on cue the portal reopened and the snake demon came out, a colossal bear like demon following. "I thought I told you to stay in Makai!" Ayame yelled.

The snake demon merely snickered before saying something in a different language to the bear like demon. "I came back to return to you the damage done to me, tenfold!" he hissed after he was done with the bear.

* * *

Shonoki: Sorry if it's short. I have to go now though. Reality calls. Hope you enjoy the chapter, please review. Pretty plz, plz, plz, plz, plz, plz, plz, plz, plz, plz, plz, plz. 


	8. Unexpected kindness,sorta

Shonoki: (is huddled under blankets.)

Hiei: Whats wrong with you?

Shonoki: The flu is going around, I think I'm getting sick.

Hiei: Does this mean you'll stop typing.

Shonoki: Phe, Fat chance. Hello everyone, sorry to keep you waiting. Some mentioned something about there being more blood shed and violence. My comment on that is this, I'm not good at battle scenes, so I don't get to graphic about it. However if you would like a good detailed battle, keep reading and you'll soon get it in a later chapter. That is a promise .

Disclaimer: I only own everything that doesn't belong in YYH...Please don't sue me, I have no money.

".." talking

'..'telepathy/ thinking

* * *

Hiei caught sight of Ayame's eyes flash that bright shade of orange again, as if a flame had started burning behind them. "I gave you a chance to go back to Makai and live. You won't get that opportunity again." Ayame said while watching both demons in front of her. The snake had continued on with his foreign language and the bear had yet to even twitch.

Hiei had already drawn his katana and watched with trained eyes for any signs of attack, something felt off about this bear demon, but he couldn't place it. Ayame had two daggers, ready to throw, waiting in her hands. 'Why hasn't the snake attacked us yet?' Hiei asked emotionlessly. 'I'm not sure, the other one is just standing there as well, it looks like he's in a trance.

The snake finally stopped with his speech and turned back to the duo. "I will have both your heads before the nights end, farewell." The snake snapped his fingers and the bear charged at Hiei and Ayame, a heavy chain with an iron ball appearing in his hands.

As the beast drew closer toward them, Ayame noticed that it had multiplied, much like the small army at the café. "Hiei he's a manipulist!" Ayame said as she dodged one of the bears. A chain shot at her and she gracefully weaved around it.

Hiei was doing much of the same thing, while attacking a few decoys here and there. "This is getting annoying, which one do we attack?" He yelled as he slashed through yet another mirage.

Ayame heard the snake start to snicker at the two's attempts to fight off his illusion. She jumped into a tree and made her way to the one behind him. As the snake occupied himself with the fight in front of him, Ayame dropped into a crouch behind him. Getting up, she drew another dagger and put it to his neck.

"You have about two seconds to make those things disappear and reveal the-Ugh!" Ayame was thrown to the ground as the real demons iron ball and chain, collided with her shoulder bone. A pop signaled Ayame that her shoulder was now dislocated. 'Ahh, crap!' Ayame rolled out of the way as the Bear sent his weapon hurtling at her once more. "Hiei, ignore them! I found the real one." Hiei turned toward Ayame, taking note of how her arm was hanging limply at her side.

Unsheathing her last dagger with her good arm, Ayame waited for the bear to attack her again. Sure enough the bear sent the ball and chain right at her. Moving to the side, it went right past. Ayame plunged her dagger through the chain link and pinned it to a tree.

The bear, being the simple mind that he was, tried to pull his chain free, ignoring the katana wielder right behind him. With one quick, clean slice the bear was cut in two.

Ayame slumped to the ground and sighed in relief. "Well that was a good work out." she stated while locating all her daggers. "Hn." Hiei pulled the dagger that pinned the chain to the tree and handed it to her. Ayame took it and nodded.

"Thanks." Ayame tossed the dagger in the air, caught it by the tip of the blade and then sent it flying right past Hiei, were it plunged into the neck of the snake demon. He fell to the ground while choking for air, and clawing at the dagger. "So much for repaying me tenfold." Ayame stated.

Hiei watched take a deep breath while her eyes melted back to their normal ice blue. "How's your shoulder?" he asked emotionlessly. Ayame closed her eyes and rubbed her shoulder. "It's out of place." She felt a hand wrap around her waist and another pressed against her shoulder. "Relax, and don't move." Before she had time to respond, Hiei pulled her shoulder back into the socket, painlessly.

Ayame rubbed her shoulder and rotated it in a circle. "Thanks, I hardly felt that." Hiei just nodded and started to head back toward Ayame's house. Ayame looked after him and smiled to herself. "Maybe this won't be so bad."

_The next day_

Ayame sat on her front porch once again, sketch book in hand and colored pencils laying next to her. The picture of the winged girl was starting to come alive. Her wings were a mixture of reds oranges and yellows, as if the were on fire. The only thing left uncolored now was the girl herself. "I haven't put this much work into a drawing in a long time." Ayame stated to herself. 

She put down her stuff and sat there for a while, random thoughts just going through her head. ' I hope everyone was alright last night, I'm surprised the news hasn't shown any pictures... I wonder who the snake demon was working for, I should have interrogated him...Hiei's hot...' Ayame sat up straight, wide eyed. 'Where the hell did that come from?'

She shook her head before picking her stuff up and heading back inside. 'I should keep myself occupied, don't need ideas like that going through my head.' Ayame took note that she was the only one in the house. Hiei had left early in the morning, she figured he wanted to train.

Ayame set her stuff down on the table and started on lunch. beep,beep,beep Ayame looked over at the table to see that Hiei had left his communicator behind. Ayame picked it up and flipped it open.

On the screen, a red haired guy with emerald eyes looked back at her. "Ohh, I'm sorry, I must have pushed the wrong button." He apologized. "Are you looking for Hiei?" The red head looked a little surprised but nodded. "Yes, cold you tell him that Kurama is trying to contact him?" Ayame nodded. "Thank you." With that the communicator shut off.

_In the field_

Hiei was going through a series of exercises with his katana. It was still only noon, and he was waiting for the onna to show up telling him that a demon had showed up. He smirked when he sensed her coming. 'Guess I'll have some fun after all.'

Ayame came walking out of the trees, a lunch box in hand and Hiei's communicator in the other. "Hn. What do you want." Hiei continued with his exercise, barely glancing over at her. Ayame set the lunch box down next to a fallen log and waited for a moment.

"One of your friends called just now. A red head named Kurama." Hiei stopped and looked over at Ayame. "What did he want?" Ayame sighed and handed him the communicator. "I'm your ally, not your answering machine." she turned around and started heading back toward the house.

Hiei looked over at the lunch box and noticed a note attached to it.

"Thanks for the help yesterday. We still need to finish our fight."

Hiei sat on the log and flipped open the communicator. Pressing a button Kurama soon appeared on the screen.

"Hello Hiei, nice to see your in good health." he said pleasantly. "What do you want Fox, and where did you get stuck?" Hiei asked, ignoring Kurama's previous comment. "I _was_ stuck over in France, however Koenma was able to bring up a temporary portal."

"Your not one to boast fox, why did you call?" Kurama smiled knowing he was wearing Hiei's patience. "I called to inform you that Koenma has found a way for you to return."

* * *

Shonoki: There you have it. Not that much of a cliff hanger but still a good ending.

Hiei: Am I going back or not!

Shonoki: Keep that attitude up and I'll send you to the North pole.

Hiei: You can't do that onna.

Shonoki: Sure I can, I'm the author. and so I leave you with the immortal words of Robenmatsu (from excel saga)

Praisemepraisemepraisemepraisemepraiseme! R&R peeps!


	9. Training interruptions

Shonoki: Umm...hehe sorry about not updating in so long. I had spring brak then as soon as we got back we had some stupid tests to take...which I'm still taking. To top it off I was suffering from writers block. I didn't like how parts of this chapter played out in my other version so I wa going to fix it here...now I know why they played out the way they did. Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Hiei smirked at the idea of him getting out of Kyoto. "When can I get back?" He asked. Kurama rubbed the back of his head. "On the next full moon. However, we just had our full moon for the month."

"So he's going to be here for another month?" Hiei looked behind him to see Ayame standing there, katana in hand. Kurama had noticed this as well. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked with a smirk. Hiei glared at him. "She just showed up fox, besides, I called you."

Ayame sat down and waited for the two to finish their conversation. 'A month huh? Well I guess it won't be that bad, at least I'll have help if these demon attacks keep increasing like they are.' Ayame continued on thinking about why the number of attacks was increasing so quickly, therefore the end of Hiei's conversation went unnoticed.

"Are you going to stare at the ground all day or was there another reason why you're out here?" Ayame snapped out of her train of thought at the cold voice coming from over head. She glared up at Hiei who was now standing over her. "Please keep your rude comments to yourself." Ayame stood up and brushed herself off. "I came out to see if you wanted to finish our match."

Hiei smirked then walked over to his spot. "Baka onna" he muttered as he took his stance. Ayame glared at him as she took hers as well. "I heard that." The two started circling each other.

"You're going to lose onna." Hiei commented icily. "Oh yeah, why's that?" Ayame dodged as Hiei brought his katana down. "Because you hold too much back." Hiei lunged at Ayame and managed to cut her side a bit. Ayame jumped back a bit but ignored the cut on her side. Flicking her wrist a bit she unsheathed a few daggers. "Power isn't everything Hiei." She taunted as she circled him again.

Hiei lunged once more. Ayame jumped up and released the daggers, most of which embedded themselves into the ground at Hiei's feet, the others, behind him "Your accuracy needs some work as well." Landing a couple feet away, Ayame shook her head. "You underestimate me." She snapped her fingers. Instantly the daggers were set ablaze, trapping Hiei in the middle of them.

"Nice trick." Hiei admitted. Ayame smiled weakly then waved her hand, banishing the flames. Hiei took this opportunity and attacked. Ayame put her katana up to block only to have Hiei disappear from her sight. She scanned the area then paused when cold metal was felt against her neck. "I win." Hiei stated coldly. "I'm not finished yet." Ayame's eyes began to glow a soft purple However she was interrupted as her tracker began to go off. "Damn!"

Ayame let out a sigh. "Darn, I thought I would win this one too." Hiei removed his sword from her neck. Ayame pulled out the device and looked at the screen. "It's in the park. Damn it, I don't feel like saving the city today." Ayame got up and grabbed her sword as well as her daggers. Hiei sat down though. "Aren't you coming?" Ayame asked as she got ready to run. "Must I?" Hiei asked coldly.

Ayame thought for a moment. "No probably not." Hiei was a little surprised by her answer. He thought for sure she'd tell him to come. "Alright, I'll see you afterwards then." Ayame said. She stretched a little and was gone in a blink of an eye.

_At the Park_

Ayame stopped as she got the opening to the park. The iron gates had been ripped from their hinges and claw marks ran down the inside wall. "Guess he's been chasing something." a scream emitted from inside the park, catching Ayame's attention. 'Miu? What she doing here?'

Miu backed up against a tree as the demon towered over her. Naoko and the Koji stood a ways away as Sage's unconscious body lay the opposite of them. "Miu run!" Naoko called as she tried to get to her friend. Koji kept a firm grip on her though. "Koji let go. We have to help her." Koji refused. "Miu run, get out of there!" she called.

Miu stood in frozen horror. 'I'm going to die!' The demon raised his claws, ready to strike the girl. "Somebody help!" Miu screamed. The demon brought his claws down. A thick cloud of dust and debris formed as the tree was destroyed. "Miu!" Naoko screamed.

The sound of a sword clearing its sheath was heard as well as a cry of pain from the demon. As the debris cleared, the two friends could make out Ayame standing in front of Miu, sword drawn and eyes focused squarely on the task at hand. The demon was still standing as well, however, a bloody gash was now quite apparent as it ran down his now limp arm.

The demon growled at Ayame. She smirked. "You're not even worth my time." Before anyone had time to realize what had happened, the demon fell to the ground, a clean cut around his neck.

Ayame turned around to her still shocked friend. "Hey Miu, everything alright?" Miu nodded numbly. Ayame smiled. "Good." Miu pointed to Sage who was still unconscious. "The demon knocked him to the ground when he tried to stop him."

Ayame went over and picked the boy up, the difference in height making it difficult. "Hey Koji, Naoko, mind giving me a hand?" The two ran over and took their friend. "Are you guys alright?" She asked when they took him. Naoko nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. The demon seemed more interested in Miu." At this point, Naoko hit Koji upside the head with her free hand. "You jerk, your lucky Ayame showed up! What do you think would have happened to Miu if she hadn't?" She accused.

Ayame looked at her, puzzled. "Why are you blaming him?" she asked. Naoko looked at her friend. "Koji wouldn't let me help Miu when the demon was about to attack. He kept holding back and telling to stop." Ayame smiled. "He did that because I told him to. I didn't want you guys to get in the way or hurt."

Naoko looked at her friend then at Koji who, quite frankly, was a little ticked about getting hit just for helping. "Hehe, gomen Koji." Naoko apologized. Ayame smiled at her friends. But it faded as her tracker went off again.

Checking the tracker, she realized that two more demons had made them selves apparent, and were head straight for her. "Is there a portal here that I don't know about!" Ayame asked in annoyance.

* * *

Shonoki: There you go. Chapter nine all set to go. I'll be working on chapter ten as soon as this is posted. Let me know what you think. R&R peeps. 


	10. Double Trouble

Shonoki: Okay sense I've slacked off for about two weeks, I'm working over time. Here's Chapter ten.

* * *

Ayame watched as two demons came crashing through the wooded part of the park. Luckily there weren't many people there, so that made less people to convince that this was all just an act.

"You guys get out of here. Also, if by any chance you see Hiei, let him know that this would be one of those times that I would need help." Koji nodded and started making his way with Sage and Miu to the gate. "Are you going to be ale to handle this?" Naoko asked. "These two I won't have a problem with, I just have a feeling that there's more coming." Naoko nodded. "Be careful alright." Ayame nodded and then made sure that Naoko had gone to join the others.

The two demons charged at Ayame, they both resembled the one prior to them. All big and ogre like, with teeth and claws, and both dumber than dirt. 'There's no way these idiots found a portal on there own. They're pawns for some one.' A quick slash of the blade and one of the demons fell, soon followed by the other one.

Ayame waited to make sure the tracker didn't go off again. When there was nothing, she caught up with the others. "Well that was quick." Koji said when she started helping him carry Sage. "There were two more of the same type, not to hard, it's just that something feels...off." Koji nodded in understanding.

As the group neared the gates, something caught their eye. A boy lay on the ground, obviously wounded. "Where did he come from?" Ayame asked when she saw him. Miu looked and saw that he to had a cut on his head. "Oh, those nasty demons must have gotten to him." Miu started to walk over to the boy. Something in the Ayame clicked though.

"Miu, wait! Stop!" Miu turned to her friend as the boy got up, claw like weapons on his hand. Ayame grabbed the girl and turned so that she took the hit. The claws left deep gashes down her back, and Ayame felt blood instantly start to absorb into her shirt.

"Ayame!" her friend's cries barely registered as she turned to face the attacker, ignoring the warm liquid running down her back. "Miu get back with the others." Ayame commanded. Miu nodded and stumbled back to the group. Ayame gritted her teeth, her way of ignoring the pain in her back.

"You've got a lot of nerve attacking my friends like that, mind telling me who you are exactly?" Ayame asked. The boy didn't answer, instead he made to strike at Ayame once more. Ayame blocked and flipped the boy over, taking note of the boy's sluggish movements and glazed look. 'So that's what's going on.'

Ayame threw a few daggers that pinned the kid to the ground. "Your puppets useless right now, come out and show yourself!" Ayame called. "Umm, Ayame. Who are you talking to?" Naoko asked as she looked around. Ayame swung her katana over the kid, a few small snaps were heard as she did so.

"The boy was being used as a puppet." Ayame reached out and grabbed a string that hadn't been cut. "And sense the puppeteer isn't showing itself, I'll just follow the string." A flash of orange passed over her eyes as the string caught fire.

"I thought you said you were going to follow it, not burn it?" Koji stated as he watched his friend. "Just watch." Ayame replied calmly. Sure enough, the fire began to trail up the string, heading toward a nearby tree. Ayame followed it and stopped a few feet away as she banished the flame.

"Come out! You're not fooling anyone." With almost no noise or movement from the branch, a kitsune jumped to the ground. Black ears adorned his head, and a black tail was behind him, silver slitted eyes and white hair to match. "Is this game not enjoyable?" he asked, his voice sounding calm and mockingly upset.

"I advise you to let the boy go!" The kistune just smirked, pointing a finger toward the boy. Ayame turned to see that the boy was removing the daggers and standing up. "Guys make a run for it!" Ayame yelled to the three teens still standing by. However the boy wouldn't have this. Getting a quick running start, the boy pounced at Naoko, tackling her to the ground.

"Get off of me!" Naoko yelled as she kicked up and over her head, sending the boy into the wall that surrounded the park. "Naoko, try not to hurt him to much, he just a...kitsune..." Naoko looked to where she had tossed the kid, except a kistune had taken his place, his features opposing those of the other, white ears and tail, with black hair and gold slitted eyes.

A chuckle came from the white haired one in front of Ayame. "Seems you've played right into our hand, dear." Ayame grit her teeth as she went over her predicament. Naoko was slowly backing a way from the new enemy, and it seemed that he had no intention in letting her get away. "I'm curious to see what you will do now, Ms. Ayame. Will you save your friends life? By doing so, you would leave me to go after the others, putting them in danger? Or, will you attack me and leave that girl to fend for herself, I doubt she'd last long."

* * *

Shonoki: Yeah, I'm going to be evil and leave off with a cliffy. Muwahahahahahahaha choke Ack cough cough...Uh hrm, yeah...well R&R please. 


	11. Message from the Master

Shonoki: (Stretches) errrr, school sucks...

Yusuke: You're only complaining because you had chemistry today.

Shonoki: My chemistry teachers out to get me, I have every right to hate that class. Flippin conspiracies going on.

Yusuke: Yeah, it had nothing to do with the fact that you weren't paying attention in class...

Hiei: You're a fine one to talk.

Yusuke: Hey,

Shonoki: I am not Yoshihiro Togashi, therefore I do not own YYH...but I do own Ayame and company.

* * *

Previously,

"Seems you've played right into our hand, dear." Ayame grit her teeth as she went over her predicament. Naoko was slowly backing a way from the new enemy, and it seemed that he had no intention in letting her get away. "I'm curious to see what you will do now, Ms. Ayame. Will you save your friends life? By doing so, you would leave me to go after the others, putting them in danger? Or, will you attack me and leave that girl to fend for herself, I doubt she'd last long."

* * *

Ayame smiled as she picked up on something while the kitsune was talking. "You shouldn't jump to conclusions. I know exactly how to handle this situation." Ayame gave a confident smirk. Naoko looked at her friend as if she had two heads. "Ayame, any time you want to put that plan of yours into action is fine by me." The blue haired girl was backed up to a tree now. Ayame nodded, "It's already started. In a blur Ayame had her blade to the neck of the kitsune attacking Naoko, and the other one was in the same situation with Hiei's katana.

"Hmph, You shouldn't be so cocky." The Fox in front of the girls stated, his voice very different from the proper tone used by the other kitsune. Naoko gave a shout of surprise as two arms wrapped around her from behind. Ayame turned to see the same black haired kitsune. "But-How!" Turning back to the one in front of her, it disappeared in a puff a smoke. "Ayame! Get off of me you good for nothing...!" Ayame turned to see the Kitsune with Naoko in a choke hold.

Hiei was busy fighting with the white haired demon fox. The kitsune had a bisento (a pole arm with a broad curved blade) for a weapon, and was well trained with it.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" The two fighters stood mere inches from each other, their weapons pressed against each other, each one trying to push the other back. The fox just grinned, barring fangs. "You may call me Ren, and my brother is Shun." Ren jumped back from Hiei, the same grin still set upon his face. "We've been sent to deliver a message to the tracker, as soon as we have her undivided attention."

Shun still hung onto Naoko, but his eyes wondered over to the group behind Ayame. Sage had regained consciousness, and was busy keeping Koji from doing something stupid to get Naoko out of danger. "Let her go!" Ayame commanded. Naoko clawed at the arm around her neck. "I have a message for you first, and then I'll think about it." Shun replied heartily. His demeanor quickly changed as a dagger brushed by him, cutting a few strand of hair. "Let her go now, or you won't last long enough to take another breath."

Naoko felt the arm around her tighten more, causing her to panic. "I can't breath!" A slight brush of air blew past Ayame as she started to pick up on something coming from her friend. "Naoko..." wind started to surround the girl as she struggled to get free. Shun had also picked up on this. "What's going on!"

The fight between Ren and Hiei paused momentarily as the two of them also picked up on the energy spike from Naoko. "So there's another. The Master will find this interesting."

An explosion of air caused the black haired kitsune to release Naoko. The girl fell to her hands and knees when the dust cleared. Ayame ran over to her friend to check on her. "Naoko, Naoko! Hey, are you alright." Naoko shook her head yes. "Ayame...what just happened?" Ayame smiled at knowing her friend would be fine. "I'll figure it out lat-Aagh!" Ayame hit the ground as a foot slammed down on the wound on her back. Glancing up, Shun towered over her, smiling evil at the girls' pain.

Hiei heard Ayame yell, and caught sight of what happened. Sending a quick kick to Ren's ribs, he went after shun. "Fist of the Mortal Flame" Shun jumped back to dodge, leaving only a small part of him singed. Hiei bent down next to Ayame and helped her up off the ground. "You alright?" Ayame blinked in surprise when she picked up on what she thought was concern, however slight it was. "Yeah, just got to get back on my feet." Hiei nodded and helped her to her feet.

Naoko stood by a nearby tree for support as she glared at the kitsune, Ayame and Hiei followed suite. "Now that we have you attention," Ren began. "We have a message for you from the Master. Return the Necklace to him at once or the safety of your friends and this city will be a thing of the past." Ayame gave a confused look "What necklace? What the hell are you talking about."

Shun took his turn to speak. "Quit playing the fool and hand it over. This makes things a lot more simple. You give us the necklace and leave, end of story." Ayame grit her teeth. "I don't know what the hell your talking about, you flea infested fox!" Shun got ready to charge at Ayame for her comment, but was stopped by Ren. "Ask your employer about it, I'm sure he'll know. Seeing as how you can't help us yet, we'll be leaving. See you soon Ms. Mitzuru." Shun swung his claws through the air, causing a portal where the two kitsune disappeared.

Ayame looked over at the group of her friends and then up at Hiei, who was still helping her to stand. "Well isn't this a nice way to start off my special weekend. Naoko are you okay?" Naoko nodded. "How about you guys? Everyone still in one piece?" Sage, Koji, and Miu all nodded. "Good, let's head back to my house. You four go on ahead, it might take me awhile." The group nodded and headed off, leaving Hiei and Ayame to walk behind.

"Thanks for showing up. I wasn't sure if you would get here in time." Ayame said as she did her best to walk by herself. "Hn, you should have called me earlier. You might not have ended up as bad as you are now." Hiei replied, his tone colder then even he wanted. "Sorry, I was to busy fighting off demons to use telepathy." "..." "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you." Hiei looked down at the girl. "I'm just a little annoyed at being attacked for something that I have no clue about." Hiei nodded.

(Ayame's House)

Ayame sat in the kitchen with Hiei's communicator. Her back had been bandaged and everyone else was sitting in the living room, Ayame had insisted that she talked to Koenma alone. Miu was cleaning and dressing Naoko's scrapes and cuts while Hiei sat on the window sill, and Koji and Sage sat on the couch. "So what are we doing for her this weekend?" Miu asked to break the silence. Naoko smiled. "I already have a plan for a party, I just have to go get the stuff." Hiei looked over at the group of friends. "What party?" Everybody looked up at him, a little surprised. "She didn't tell you?" Sage asked. "Would I ask if she did?" was the quick reply. Naoko got up and went over to Hiei, so that only she and him could hear. "Ayame's birthday is coming up in two days."

* * *

Shonoki: Well, not much of a cliff hanger but at least I got a plot point out there. I feel accomplished now. R&R please. 


	12. A Promise and a Party

Shonoki: I. Hate. My. Chemistry. Teacher! He's Evil! EVIL!

Yusuke: How evil, on a scale from 1 to 10.

Shonoki: Lets go with a twenty-No thirty! He's going to be giving us a test on the Friday before Final Exam week!

Yusuke: Okay, I guess that does warrant a thirty on the evil scale.

Kurama: Would it really have been that bad if you had studied?

Shonoki: You can't study for his test! Their all over stuff that isn't in the text book or in the notes!

Hiei: Your over exaggerating again.

Shonoki: Am not! Anyway, I don't own the YYH gang, just Ayame and gang. Enjoy chap 12.

* * *

Ayame sat at the kitchen table waiting for Koenma to answer the communicator, totally oblivious to her friends conversation in the next room.

"Hello?" Koenma answered after the fifth beep. "You have some SERIOUS explaining to do Toddler!" Koenma held the communicator as far away as possible as Ayame fumed.

"Why the HELL would two kitsune attack me AND my friends for a FLIPPIN NECKLACE!"

The group in the living room all sat silent, each a little stunned at the volume and tone of the girls voice. "She's got some pretty good sized lungs for such a little girl." Koji commented. Ayame glared at him from her seat. "My ears aren't half bad either." she snapped. Turning back to the communicator, Ayame watched the pint sized ruler dig through some files frantically. "Got an answer yet?" she pressed in a tone that would make even the toughest demon cower.

Koenma looked up at the girl nervously. "Uhhh, just a sec. It's here some where...Got it!" A picture of a necklace with a medallion on it popped up on the screen. "It's called the Immortals Necklace. It's a treasure sought out by almost every upper class demon or thief, even some lower class ones. It's said that the liquid inside the medallion grants immortality and infinite power. It can bring the dead back to life and cure any sickness, however all of this comes with a catch."

Ayame waited for him to continue but got nothing. "Which is!" she snapped. Koenma jumped at the outburst. "I'm getting there, I had to turn the page. The cost of using the necklace is that it takes the life of a person close to the user."

"Where is it?" Ayame jumped at the sound of Hiei's voice so close behind her. 'Has he been there the whole time?' Hiei looked over at her and nodded. "Ayame," Koenma's attitude quickly changed to that of seriousness. "How old are you right now? In human years, approximately." Ayame cocked an eyebrow. "Why?" Koenma rubbed his temples. "I made a promise to your brother when he got here. The information you need to know is going to have to wait till after your next birthday." Ayame grit her teeth. "Excuse Me! What the HELL FOR?" "Your brother didn't want you to take on this responsibility till you were older, I'm sorry but a promise is a promise, especially when it's to _your_ family."

"What responsibility, Koenma this might not be able to wait till then. Did you not hear me earlier, my friends were _attacked_ today, okay. A full fledge aimed-for-them-to-get-to-me, attack. The last time something like that happened it caused a string of murders that baffled the police and went unexplained to others. I still hear stories about that."

Hiei at this point took in what Ayame was saying. It sounded like this had her on edge, other then the fact that her friends were attacked. His focused changed as Koenma began talking again.

"Ayame, your family has been working for me for a great many years now, all of them have died because of it. Your brother knew this and more about that necklace." Ayame starred at him, a mix of emotions behind the icy eyes. "This is a life or death situation Koenma, either you tell me what I need to know about that trinket, or your going to be short one tracker here in Kyoto...permanently."

Koenma looked at the girl, a little shocked by her ultimatum. Ayame was his only tracker in Kyoto. Without her the city would be in serious trouble. Hiei was also a little taken aback by her comment. 'Would you really quit?' he asked as they waited for Koenma's reply. 'If that's what it takes to get the answers I need.' was the all too serious answer.

"I'll make a deal with you Ayame." Koenma finally said. "I'll tell you everything I know about the Immortals Necklace, however, you're going to have to wait till at least tomorrow. That will give me enough time to collect all the files and info...Is it a deal?" Ayame nodded. "It'll have to do. Thank you Koenma, know I have another question for you."

Koenma swallowed hard, thinking he was going to get yelled at again. "Yes..." Ayame smiled and pointed to her four friends in the living room. "Would you mind doing background checks on all of their past family records?" Koenma sighed in relief, "Sure thing, anything in particular I'm looking for?" "Just making sure there isn't any hidden blood lines. Thanks Koenma, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Ayame shut off the communicator and set it down on the table before laying her head down as well. "I need a vacation." she mumbled into the wooden table. Hiei smirked at the comment and watched as Naoko, Miu, Koji, and Sage made their way toward the door. "You guys leaving?" Ayame asked as she lifted her head off the table a bit.

"We'll be right back. The equipment for our band needs to get packed up and dropped off at my house before the Café closes" Sage said, then looked over at Hiei. "You want to come Hiei, we could always use an extra hand." Hiei shrugged. "Nothing better to do." Ayame got up from the table and started to grab a coat. "I'll come to." Naoko shook her head. "Nope, you're staying here, your back needs to heal, remember." Ayame cocked her head to the side a bit. "I'll be fine, believe me. The exercise might do it some good." Naoko walked over and blocked Ayame from the door. "I really think you should stay here. In fact, I insist." Ayame looked at her friend in front of her, then over at the rest. "Fine, I'll stay here. I'm ordering pizza for dinner though, so don't take to long." They all agreed then left.

Ayame sat on her couch and shook her head as she smiled to herself. Getting back up she picked up her sketch book and head for her room. Once upstairs she stopped, once again, in front of the locked door. 'Why is that even in death you continue to watch out for me...Thanks Riku.'

(Meanwhile with the others)

"Found it!" Naoko grabbed a pair of giant dice off the shelf and ran over to the counter of the store. The boys waited outside each holding a bag or two, except Hiei. they had gone to the mall to get stuff for Ayame's party. Miu had run home to get her present however, and agreed to meet the others at Ayame's later on that night.

"Are we done yet?" Hiei asked as Naoko exited the store. He started walking toward the exit when she stopped him. "What did you get her?" Hiei looked back at he then at the boys. "I didn't get her anything." The three others just kind of stared at him. "Wait hold up. She's letting you stay at her house, she's feeding you, and sparring with you, and you aren't going to get her anything for her birthday?" Hiei glared at Koji, then was quickly dragged down the hall by Naoko. "I know exactly what you should get her!"

Hiei pulled away from the overly excited girl. "I'm quite capable of walking by myself." Naoko just smiled and led the way to the store. "You know, I think Ayame likes you." Hiei stopped dead in his tracks. "Excuse me!" Koji and Sage came up behind him. "You don't Ayame like we do. Ever sense you've gotten here, she's made a change for the better. She talks more, and the night she sang on stage was the first time she had had some fun in a long time." Sage explained. "I've also seen her sketch book, she's been drawing again, a lot. Take a look sometime, the pictures might surprise you."

(Ayame's house)

Ayame was still sitting on her bed sketching when she heard her back door open, and then click shut. "Hey Ayame! Are you still here?" Koji's voice called from down stairs. "I'll be down in a minute, just gotta finish something." Naoko and Sage set their gifts down in the living room. Hiei leant up against the doorway as Ayame came down. "So you guy's get everything packed alright?" she asked. Sage nodded. "Yep, all done." Ayame smiled then looked around. "Uh huh, where's Miu?" As if on cue Miu walked in the door holding two boxes, one larger in size. "Sorry I'm late, my mom had me run a few errands before I could get back." she apologized. Miu set both boxes down on the counter then called the others into the kitchen. "You guy's didn't do what I think you did...did you?" Every just gave her a what-do-you-think look. "Guess, that answers my question." Sage opened the larger box to a reveal one of Miu's home baked cakes. "Happy Birthday Ayame!"

* * *

Shonoki: 4 pages, I got four pages up just now. Hope you all liked it. R&R pretty please. 


	13. Truth or Dare

Shonoki: One more day! ONE MORE DAY!

Hiei: Why are you so happy?

Shonoki: I have exactly one day left of school. I only have to go through three hours of school, 166 questions and about twenty-four pages of an exam in chemistry, and then I. Am. FINISHED!

Hiei: I thought you hated chemistry.

Shonoki: I do, but sense I passed all the other marking periods...I can flunk the exam, still pass, and not care, plus there is no stoichemitry (math with chemicals) involved.

Kurama: What about your GPA...

Shonoki: I'll get it back up next year

Disclaimer: I don't YYH, just Ayame and Friends.

* * *

Ayame sat in her living room with all her friends. Hiei sat on the window sill, ignoring the party for the most part. Naoko and Miu sat next to Sage and Koji watching Ayame open up her first gift from the boys (Sage and Koji). She smiled as a she saw the word karaoke under the paper. "You can record you singing on it too." Koji said when he saw the smile on her face. "We want the first tape." Sage added. "It's a deal." Ayame agreed.

Miu handed Ayame her gift, and sat fidgeting while she opened it. "I hope you like it, I got awhile back, you pointed it out while we were shopping one day." Ayame held up a silky fabric with a beautiful print on it. "Thank you so much Miu, I'll definitely use it for the Kimono Festival this year." Miu smiled and nodded.

Naoko gave a crafty smile as she handed Ayame the next gift. "I'm almost afraid to open this one." Ayame said smirking. "Don't worry, it's nothing to bad." Ayame opened the gift and saw a pair of Truth or Dare dice. "Oh no... we aren't?" Ayame asked looking up at her friend with pleading eyes. "Oh yes we are! This is a party, we have to play the game, it's like a tradition."

Ayame smiled and thanked all her friends for their gifts. "You haven't opened all of them yet." Koji pointed out. "Huh?" Ayame turned to look at Hiei, who was determined no to look at her. "Hiei did you-" Hiei handed her a box, thereby answering her question. Ayame took the box. It was pretty plane with a ribbon tied around it. "You didn't have to get me anything, but thank you very much."

Ayame undid the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a necklace, a dragon pendant was hanging off of a silver chain. The dragon was holding a milky white orb protectively. "Oh wow, Hiei this is really pretty." Ayame put the necklace on and examined the pendant. "He picked it out himself." Naoko quipped. "Although he needed some persuading." Ayame got up and walked over to Hiei, looking him dead in the eye. "Thank you." Hiei looked up at her, giving a nod and his usual "Hn."

"Okay, now that all the presents are opened, let's play a game." Naoko said while grabbing the dice, and writing everyone's names on different sides of the white one. "Here's how it works, the write dice contains everyone's names, and the red dice has truth or dare on different sides. One person rolls the name dice, and what ever name it lands on, that person rolls the truth or dare dice." she explained as she held up both die.

"So we don't get a choice in the matter?" Sage pointed out as he took a seat in the slowly forming circle. "Nope. Oh, and _everyone_ is playing. We need six people." Ayame gave a sigh of defeat and sat down next to Miu and Koji, Hiei stayed put on the window sill however. "Come on Hiei. If I have to play so do you." Ayame smirked as he left his spot with a "Hn."

"All right! Sense I have the dice I'll start." Naoko rolled the name die. 'Don't let it be me, don't let it be me, please don't let it be me!' Hiei glanced over at Ayame as she repeated the plea. "Ayame!" Naoko called out enthusiastically. "Damn." Ayame frowned as she picked up the truth or dare die and rolled. She swore again as it landed on dare. "Wohoo! Okay, sense I'm pretty sure you going to end this game real soon. I'm using my big dare now." Naoko pointed a finger at Ayame, an evil grin on her face. "Ayame, I dare you to share a bed with Hiei tonight!"

Both Hiei and Ayame were being held down as Naoko hid behind the couch. "Naoko, your lucky it's against the rules for me to even slightly maim you." Naoko sweat dropped. "Oh come on now Ayame, you wouldn't really hurt me would you. Besides, it's only one night, and it's not like we're expecting you guys to do anything. Eeek!" Naoko shrank back as one of the dice stopped short of hitting her. Ayame smirked and stopped struggling, as well as levitated the die back to the group.

"Alright fine, just realize Naoko that that dare of yours is grounds for payback. You've been warned." Naoko gave a relieved breath and rejoined the circle. "All right my turn." Ayame rolled the die and smiled as it landed on Koji's name. Koji swallowed hard. "Go easy okay, I didn't have nothing to do with that last dare." Ayame just smiled innocently. Koji rolled the die, which landed on dare. "Okay, Koji, I dare you to be our dummy tomorrow while I train Naoko with her new powers." Koji slumped; he'd been used as a target before, mainly Ayame's. "Fine." Ayame smiled then got up. "I'll be right back, I'm gunna go get something. Go ahead and keep playing." Ayame walked out of the room and toward the steps. Koji rolled the name diced. Sage smirked as it landed on him. He rolled the dice.

Ayame came back down and headed for the living room, then noticed that no one was there anymore. "Ah great." Quickly she jumped to the side as Sage made to put a party hat on her. "Crap, not again. I'm not wearing one this year." Ayame said determinedly as she backed away. Something moved behind her. Ayame flipped over Sage as Naoko jumped out, a party hat in her hand as well. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" Ayame went for the door. She skid to a halt however as Miu stood in the doorway, with a hat. "Miu not you too." Miu just smiled. "Sorry Ayame." Two steps back and a duck as Koji flew over her head. "Sorry guy's not tonight." Ayame ran for the front door, but was again forced to stop. Hiei leaned against the frame nonchalantly, his eyes closed and face calm.

"Well at least I know that you won't try anything." Ayame went to pass him until something told her other wise. Ayame's hand shot out and grabbed Hiei's arm as he too, tried to get a hat on her. "It's a conspiracy! You're all out o get me!" Ayame sensed the others behind her. "How the crap did you get him to join in this?" Ayame asked as she backed up against the wall. "We made him a deal that he couldn't refuse." Ayame nodded. "Alright, I see then. Well if you want me to wear the hat that badly," she took a step forward then flipped over all of them, making a beeline for the door. "Then you're going to have to catch me." She called.

Everyone just watched her disappear out the door. Hiei smirked then silently disappeared. "How long do you think it will take him?" Sage asked as he looked down at his watch. "I'll give him five minutes." Koji replied. Miu just shook her head as Naoko smiled and pulled out a camera.

Ayame ran through the woods behind her house. There was no way in hell she was going to wear one of those ridiculous hats. a twig snapped to her left, Ayame turned and flipped over the oncoming Hiei. "You missed." she called as Hiei quickly turned to try again. "They said this was your punishment for missing the past two turns." Ayame put a hand on her hip and cocked an eyebrow. "You've got to be kidding me. I missed two peoples turns in that short amount of time. Who's turns were they and what did I miss?" She dodged and jumped into a tree as Hiei made another attempt.

"Sage was the first one that you missed. He was dared to get a party hat on you." He lept on to the branch she occupied. Ayame just smiled and waved. "If he was dared to get a hat on me, then why are you helping?" Ayame faked pouted. Hiei just starred at her. Ayame got a confused look. "Wait! This has to do with the deal you made with them. Well that makes total-oof!" Ayame lay on her back on the ground, a party hat strapped to her head. "Sense."

"You suck." she said flatly. She closed her eyes but quickly opened them as the flash of a camera went off. Hiei stood above her, camera in hand and a triumphant smirk planted on his face. "You got to the count of two to hand the camera and film over. 1!" Hiei took off into the woods, Ayame was right behind him though. "Hiei Jaganshi! Get back here!"

Hiei stopped when he came to a steep hill. He turned, but was slammed into by Ayame, who was going to fast to stop so soon. Both tumbled down. Ayame tensed as she felt Hiei wrap his arms around her protectively. They came to a hard, abrupt stop at the bottom. Ayame shook her head to clear her vision a bit, then realized the position she was in.

She was on top of Hiei, who, at that moment, had his hands on her hips. Ayame looked down at the ruby eyes that stared back at her. "Umm..." Ayame got off of Hiei and sat on her knees off to the side. "I'm umm...sorry...about that." She looked over at Hiei, she squinted, was it just her or was he blushing. Hiei sat up and brushed himself off. "How's your back?" He asked emotionlessly, as if nothing had happened. "Huh, oh it's alright, thanks for asking." Ayame looked over her shoulder at her back, then noticed something in the grass behind her. Hiei stood up and looked around, he went to ask Ayame a question, but was greeted by the flash of a camera.

"Now you have to burn the film." she said winking. "We can hide the camera, we'll say we lost it in the chase." Hiei snatched the camera from her. He gripped it in his hand tightly. The camera ignited into a purplish black flame, leaving only ash behind. "That'll work too." Ayame watched as the wind blew the dust away, then realized she was still wearing the hat. Taking it off, she did the same thing to it. "Hn. You really don't like those do you." Ayame glared at Hiei. "Let me forcefully strap one to your head and see how you like it." she retorted sarcastically.

* * *

Shonoki: That's all for now, I'm tied and I'm getting a crap.

Hiei: Quit complaining. No ne told you to type that much in one day.

Shonoki: Oh be quite. Anyway Hope you all like, there will be a little more mush in the next one but not a lot. R&R please!


	14. Old Friends and Pictures

Yusuke: We are gathered here today to mourn the lose of Shonoki Um-Oof (gets hit in the head with a rock)

Shonoki: (scratchy voice) I'm not dead you twit!

Yusuke: You might as well be. You look like hell ran you over, backed up and did it again! (Ducks as rock flies over his head) Ha you mis-Ack! (Gets hit in face with an iron)

Shonoki: (still scratchy voice) Baka, I can still kick your butt. I'm losing my voice at the moment and I feel like crap, but I'm still going to update. I got such good reviews, how could I not.

Hiei: She doesn't own anything pertaining to YYH.

Shonoki: Thank you Hiei.

Hiei: Hn.

* * *

Ayame and Hiei walked back into the house. In the living roomto see only Miu in the room. She was on her cell phone, and looking pretty happy.

"Alright...yes...yes...Put him in a hotel...how long...alright...Ayame'shouse...she's umm..." Miu looked up at a very confused Ayame at this point.

"She's been busy...uh huh...okay see yeah then!" Miu hung up the phone and smiled cheerfully. "Guess who's coming to visit us tomorrow?" she asked.

Ayame crossed her arms and closed her eyes momentarily. "...Shinami! Shinami is coming to visit!"

Miu continued smiling and shook her head. Hiei watched as Ayame's eyes lit up with happiness.

"Another friend of yours?" He asked while taking his spot on the window. Ayame nodded then took a seat on the couch.

"Shinami is well, basically my sister in law. Her and my brother were in engaged before the incident. We used to stay with them a lot after my parents died too. They're like my second family. Shinami is a tracker too, so she'll probably want to spar while she's here... Miu, where are the others?" she asked casually.

"They went to get their stuff. Naoko said that it would be best that we stayed the night so that you two don't back out on the dare." Miu replied. Ayame twitched, she had hoped that they'd forgotten.

"I hope Shinami hasn't changed too much over the years." Ayame tipped her head back so that she was facing the ceiling. Closing her eyes, a memory flashed through her minds eye.

(Memory)

"Come on Ayame, it's not that hard. You don't want to get left behind on the next mission do you?" A tall girl with long ebony hair and crystal green eyes asked. A younger, six year old Ayame shook her head no.

The two were training in a backyard. "Riku doesn't want me to go, he says I'll only get in the way. He said that I'm not strong enough to fight like you guys." Ayame pouted a bit.

The taller girl smiled and put her arms around Ayame. "You're only as strong as you think you are little one. She looked up as a boy with short white hair walked into the yard. "What are you two up to?"

(End memory)

Ayame brought herself back to reality. Her brother had been gone for awhile now, and Shinami took it just as hard as she herself did. Miu cleared her throat to get her friends attention.

"Umm, Ayame, there's something else you should know. Shinami isn't coming alone." Miu said slowly and cautiously.

Ayame looked down at her friend, tipping her head to the side. "Are her parents coming too? They're welcome here if they need a place to stay." Miu shook her head. She started to get a little fidgety as well.

Hiei caught a sudden spike in Ayame's energy. He looked over and noticed that her eyes had lost the glint of joy and had been replaced by a look that he knew well.

"No." Ayame stated flatly. The look that Hiei had picked up was one of almost pure hatred. "He's is not welcome here under any circumstances. He can go stay in a cardboard box!" Ayame eyes started toflicker to their orange color as she spoke.

"Ayame, maybe Sota's changed through the years. I'm sure you and him can come to some sort of-" "No!" Ayame shouted, cutting off Miu.

"Miu I don't mean to snap at you, but people like him don't change, they just get worse." Ayame started to leave the room. "I'm going to go change for bed. You guys can figure out were you want to sleep. I'll deal with Sota tomorrow...if I have to. Goodnight."

Ayame disappeared upstairs. Hiei looked over at Miu who was staring at the floor. "Sota is Shinami's brother." She said, answering the unasked question. "He's had a...thing...for Ayame ever sense they were kids. She never could stand him, Riku always threatened him when he wouldn't leave her alone. We started calling him her stalker."

Hiei sat silent, nodding when Miu looked over at him, signaling for her to continue. "After Riku died, Sota tried to force himself on Ayame. He said something to her about Riku not being around to protect her anymore."

Miu pointed to wrist, "Ayame left him with a really nasty burn that day, and she probably would have done worse if Sage and Koji didn't find them. They beat him up later though." Miu let out a sigh. "Ayame hasn't seen him sense that day."

Hiei looked back out the window for a moment before getting up and heading upstairs.

The rest of the group came through the door as he passed it. "Going to bed Hiei?" Naoko called with a grin. "Don't forget the dare." Hiei continued up the stairs. "Hn."

Ayame cleared a few drawings off her bed and gently set them in a wooden box. She had already changed into a T-shirt and pajama shorts. As she was picking up more sketches and drawings one of them fell and slipped to the door. Hiei looked down and picked it up, studying the picture. It was of a shadowed figure sitting on a tree limb. There was writing underneath. Hiei started to read it, but was stopped when Ayame grabbed the picture.

"It isn't finished yet." she said as she put it with the rest of the pictures. Hiei walked over and looked in the box. There was picture of a girl sitting on a broken bridge that was covered in ivy and vines. The girl looked to be crying, as she had her knees tucked under her chin, her head rested against them as rain came down. It was actually kind of depressing.

"You draw a lot." he stated as Ayame put another stack of papers into the box. She nodded. "It's a good past time. Most are ideas from dreams, or things I've seen before. Some are just my way of showing how I feel." Ayame pointed to the one of the girl on the bridge. "I drew it after Riku's death. It was basically how I felt, alone, sad, depressed, like my life had shattered for the second time in my existence." She gave a slight snicker and put the cover on the box.

"Now on to the problem at hand...which bed are we sleeping in?"

* * *

Hiei: You're leaving it there?

Shonoki: (Nods) yep.

Hiei: Why?

Shonoki: Because I need a cliffhanger, and if you don't like tough cookies.

Hiei: Hn.

Shonoki: I hope you all like the chapter, this is the fastest I've typed and updated ever. Two updates in row, Wohoo I'm on a roll. R&R plz!


	15. Nightmares of the Past

Shonoki: Not much to say except thank you so very much for all the reviews. Alot of you don't like Sota I see...I'll have to make sure something bad happens to him later. Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Hiei lay on his side next to Ayame, facing away from her, in her bed. 'Stupid onna, this bed is the same sizes a mine.' Ayame had told him prior that her bed was one size larger then his, and therefore would give them more room at night. 

Hiei gave a low growl as Ayame turned once more in her sleep. She'd been doing all night and it was starting to annoy the crap out of him.

'What could she possibly be dreaming about to make her move around so much!' Hiei sat up in the bed, debating whether or not to watch her dream.

(Ayame's Dream... anything in '...' is Ayame's conscience)

'I remember this...'

Riku was in front her, running full speed toward the park. "What is it we're going after tonight?" Ayame asked as she tailed after him.

'I don't want to be here...'

"It's an unclassified. Koenma doesn't have any information on it. All I know is that the demon is wanted for multiple murders in both Makai and Ningenkai." Riku replied casually, he didn't seem too worried about the mission.

'Riku, go back...'

As they approached the location, it became very apparent that the demon was close by. Broken trees, claw marks and footprints, and blood covered the area.

Riku stopped and looked around, Ayame following suit. A loud crash sounded from close by, grabbing the attention of both siblings. Riku darted off in the direction. "Riku wait up!"

'I should have stayed put...'

Ayame followed her brother to a very muscular looking demon. He looked human with the exception of his fangs and slitted yellow eyes. He had black greasy hair, and blood stained claws.

He looked up from his recent victims to stare at them. An evil grin came to his lips as he stood.

'Why am I having this nightmare...'

"Who are you, and why are you here?" Riku asked, his voice hard and angry. Ayame looked at the demon. He glanced at her and smirked.

"My name is Kaizer, I'll be the one to get rid of the two of you on this beautiful night."

There was a flash of light. Once it cleared Ayame was fighting Kaizer, and seemed to be winning. Ayame gave a hard kick and sent the demon into a tree, were he stayed down.

"Riku I did it!" Ayame walked over to the body to examine it, oblivious to the ball of electrical energy forming in his palm under him. "Ayame get back!" Ayame felt herself get pushed to the ground as a hot beam of energy went passed her, hitting her brother dead on.

'no...'

Riku's body lay limp on top of Ayame. "Riku? Riku are okay...Riku please answer me!"

'no...'

Kaizer gave a snicker as he started to approach her.

Ayame got out from under Riku and rolled him over onto his back. "Riku I'm so sorry. Please, please wake up..." a single tear slipped down her face and onto the ground in front of her.

Another laugh sounded from Kaizer. "That takes care of one brat. Now I just have to get rid of the runt."

Ayame wiped her eyes and grabbed her brothers' katana. Slowly she rose to her feet, back still facing Kaizer. "How dare you...?" she asked quietly.

Kaizer's attention was fully drawn to the girl as the air around her began to change rapidly. Ayame's body began to glow that familiar orange color. She turned to face the demon murderer.

"How dare you take the only one dear to me!" Ayame's eyes looked to have flames behind them.

Kaizer took a few steps away from the girl. Ayame wasn't going to have any of that. She brought the sword up over her head. "Say good-bye."

She brought the sword down hard. As it hit the ground, a stream of fire shot across the earth. Kaizer gave a painful shriek then disappeared.

Ayame panted before hitting her knees, and crying by her brothers side. "Riku..please come back...I don't want to be alone."

'I don't want to be alone...'

The scene changed and Ayame found herself suspended in darkness. "This fate will befall you again if you don't give me what I want!" A deep echoing voice called through the darkness.

Images flashed through the air, scenes of Riku's death, and of the death of a shadowed figure, one Ayame had was not able to recognize.

'No!'

(End Dream)

"No!" Ayame shot up in bed, forcing Hiei to back up. "Mind explaining why you refuse to keep still in you sleep?

Ayame looked over at him, on the verge of tears. She quickly wiped her eyes and shook her head. "It was just a nightmare." Hiei raised an eyebrow as she wiped her eyes.

Ayame looked over at her clock, it had only been a few hours since she had gone to bed. "I'm sorry I woke you up. If I start that again just wake me up."

'It would probably be for the better.' Ayame just gave a weary smile. Hiei nodded and turned back over to face the window. Ayame did the same and face away from him.

Hiei laid there for awhile, however wasn't able to get sleep. He glared at nothing and gave a low growl 'Great now I'll never sleep.' Ayame picked up on his dilemma, and therefore, started to hum a soft tune.

Hiei listened to her, his demeanor slowly starting to relax. Ayame smiled as she felt the tension around him dissipate, but continued on with her tune.

**_Next morning_**

Ayame half woke up the next morning, but kept her eyes shut. 'I need to get up, the others are probably already down stairs waiting for food.' She thought as she sent a message to the rest of her body to wake up.

Ayame tried to move but found that it was impossible for her to get up. 'What the hell?'

Cracking one eye open, she saw only black material, she also felt something around her waist. Then it clicked. Ayame opened her eyes all the way to find herself lying very close to Hiei, who during the course of the night, had wrapped his arms around her.

"Hiei...Hiei...please wake up." She said in a loud whisper. No reply came. 'He's dead asleep, not that I blame him, we did get to bed late.' Ayame looked up and noticed how content he was. She smiled. 'Maybe if I'm careful about it...'

She gently and slowly tried to pull away, but only succeeded in being pulled closer and held tighter. Feeling her cheeks heat up Ayame stayed still 'Great...guess I'll just wait for him to wake up.'

Ayame rested her head on Hiei, listening to his heartbeat and taking note of how warm he was. 'This is enough to put me back to sleep. It's a good thing he's out cold, he's going to flip out when he wakes up.' Ayame tensed when she heard some one coming up the steps.

'Crap!' Doing her best not to move to much, Ayame pulled the blankets up farther, not knowing what that would accomplish.

* * *

Shonoki: Hehe I love cliffies, aren't I evil. Sorry there isn't much action or fighting in this one, there will be plenty in the next one though. That is a promise. R&R plz! 


	16. Shinami and Sota

Shonoki: Holy Crap you people hate Sota! That's all my reviews talked about. Hehe Glad you all enjoy the last chapter, now on to chapter 16.

* * *

Ayame listened as the steps grew closer. 'Oh please go away, please go away. I'll never live this down.'

"Ayame?" Miu's gentle, quiet voice called from the doorway. "Ayame, are you awake yet?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Ayame pulled the cover down. "I'm awake, just in a slight pinch."

Miu looked over at her friend and smiled. "You look comfortable." She teased. Ayame turned her head and gave her a flat look. "He doesn't know what he's doing does he?" she asked.

"No, I don't think so." Ayame replied. She tried to get out again but Hiei wasn't about to let go. "Hey Miu do me a favor, keep the others down-stairs until I get out of this."

Miu giggled at her friend's dilemma. "Actually, they're all still asleep. I have to go pick up Shinami at the airport so I'll be gone for a little bit." Miu smiled as she caught sight of her friends slightly pink face. "You two are pretty cute together."

Ayame glared at her friend. "Haha, you're so funny. Please don't tell the others."

Miu nodded. "My lips are sealed. I'll be back in a bit." She waved. "Good luck." Miu disappeared, leaving Ayame alone to contemplate how to escape before anyone else found her in this...predicament.

"Hiei, Hiei!" Ayame tried a little louder. She didn't really want to yell too loud, her friends weren't exactly heavy sleepers. She got nothing in response. 'Geez, it's like trying to wake up a rock.' Ayame sighed tried to think of another idea.

'Let's see, I've already tried verbally, I could give waking him up mentally a shot.'

Ayame closed her eyes and tried to contact Hiei telepathically.

(Hiei's Mind)

Ayame found herself in Hiei's subconscious under a very large tree. Looking up she saw Hiei, who seemed to be just lounging on a branch. She jumped up to land on the same branch with very little movement, only enough to make it seem like a slight breeze had shifted the branch a bit.

'Oh this is perfect.' Ayame crept over till she was leaning over Hiei. Carefully, she knelt down so that she was level with his ear.

"So, do enjoy sleeping in my bed?" She asked loud enough to wake him.

The sudden voice next to his ear cause Hiei to lose his balance long enough for him to fall of the branch.

(Real World)

Hiei woke up to see that he was still in Ayame's room, and then he felt something pressed up against him. Looking down, Ayame laid there, her face a rosy pink. "Eh!-what the? What are you doing!"

Ayame glared at him. "Excuse me! Check where your arms are at. This isn't my doing."

She motioned to her waist.

Hiei glanced down and quickly released her. He sat up and looked over at her, trying hard to avoid eye contact. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"

Ayame sat up and stared at him for a moment. "Do me a favor and look at me when you're talking to me please." she asked before answering. "I tried. I've come to the conclusion that once you're asleep, it takes a lot to wake you up." She stepped out of the bed and put on a thin robe. "I should probably go start breakfast, the others will be awake soon. She headed for the door then stopped to look back at him. "Your lucky, Miu is the only who knows about what just happened." She smiled and left.

Hiei sat on Ayame's bed, thinking about the previous night. 'She doesn't know...' he thought as he got off the bed. He tightened the bandana around his forehead, it was loose from last night. He mentally kicked himself for doing what he did after he fell asleep, however his mind traveled to Ayame humming last night. 'Why does she make me feel so weird.'

He heard movement coming from downstairs, signaling that everyone else was awake. "Guess I'll go see what's for breakfast."

Walking into the kitchen, Hiei saw Ayame standing at the stove making pancakes. The others sat at the table each with a cup of something caffeinated in front of them.

"Miu made coffee and tea before she left. Which would you like Hiei?" Ayame asked as she flipped on of the pancakes. Hiei walked over and poured some coffee for himself, then took a seat at the table.

"So how did you two sleep last night?" Naoko asked teasingly as she took a sip of her coffee.

Hiei glared at her and was about to say something when Ayame interrupted him.

"We _slept_ fine Naoko. In fact, that's all we did do." She came over and set a plate of pancakes down between the syrup and a bowl of strawberries. "Help yourselves. Oh, and remember Naoko you have training today." Ayame smiled behind her cup of tea as she looked at her friends shocked face.

"Have you talked to Koenma about that yet?" Naoko asked as she poured syrup over her breakfast. She took a bite as Ayame shook her head.

"I was going to talk to him today about that. In fact." She looked over at Hiei who dug in his pocket and handed her the communicator without a word. "Thank you." Ayame took the communicator and went into the living room, pressing the button as she went.

"Hello." Koenma greeted as his face popped up on the screen.

"Ayame smiled. "Good morning Koenma, how are you this beautiful day?"

Koenma's eye twitched. "You're only this polite when you want something." He said flatly as he looked at the girl.

"I would like the history of my friends please...are there any hidden bloodlines I should know about."

Koenma filed through some papers then pulled out two, looking them over carefully. "Actually there is, two I might add. Naoko Tome, she's part wind demon. And Miu Yuzaka, she's a storm demon...the two would be excellent partners." Koenma replied, as if this was the most normal thing ever.

Ayame just about dropped the communicator. "You're telling me that both of my friends are demons. How can you act so casual about this?"

Koenma put on a serious face. "It's really no that strange, we get people who don't realize they have powers till their teenage years all the time. It's more common then you think."

Ayame nodded. "Okay, I see. Thanks Koenma, I'll have a talk with them about it."

As she went to hang up, Koenma stopped her. "Ayame, I need to talk to you."

"Is this about the Immortals necklace thing?" she asked as she stood up and headed for the front porch.

Koenma nodded his head. "I've decide to trust you with the information. Looking on at the situation at hand, I don't really have much choice."

Ayame sat down on the step. "Alright what can you tell me that you haven't already."

Koenma sighed and pulled over a huge folder. "You should know, right off the bat, that your family, on your mother's side, has been entrusted with the protection of the Immortals Necklace for a very long time. Your mother refused to carry on this tradition for a good many years but eventually took on the responsibility. This necklace is the cause of many of your family member's death as well. Are you sure you want to know more about it?"

"I'm sure." Ayame said seriously with a nod. 'If this thing is that important what else can I do...'

"I have one question about the necklace though Koenma...why is my family in charge of it?"

Koenma leaned back in his chair and put his fingers together. "The necklace was put in my fathers vault a long time ago, unfortunately, some low life found out about it and what it did. The vault got attacked so often, it started becoming unsafe to keep the necklace there. We tried to get rid of it as well, however the thing is basically indestructible. The creator of the Immortals necklace used materials that can no longer be found any where anymore. So my father decided to give it to one of his most trusted trackers, your great, great, great grandfather.

"Well that explains a lot." Ayame said as she closed her eyes and nodded. "So where is the necklace now, it's been awhile since Riku died."

"...I don't...know" Koenma sweat-dropped as Ayame glared at him once again.

"What do you mean you don't know? Isn't it your job to know, oh so powerful ruler of the diaper realm?"

"There's no need for name calling. Your brother hid the necklace while he studied up on it. He figured it was too dangerous to carry it around. He never told me were it was exactly, I do know however that it's in your house."

"I see, so I basically have to tear my house apart trying to find this thing." She sighed then smirked. "Thank you Koenma, for telling me the information, I appreciate it."

Koenma gave her a warm smile from behind his binkie. "You're very welcome Ayame. I'm sorry that I'm not able to help you further, there are so many people after the Immortals Necklace I'm not sure where to start you off at. Your brother took care of most of them though."

Ayame nodded. "I promise to do what I can to make sure no one gets their hands on it...once I find it." She smiled then said good bye to Koenma. Walking back toward the kitchen the sounds of people hurrying to sit down became apparent.

"Well since you all listened in, you know what's going on. Your training starts when Miu gets back with Shinami, alright Naoko?" Ayame asked looking over at her friend.

Naoko gave a cocky smile. "You got it boss." She drank the last of her second cup of coffee, and then stood up to go to the sink. "So, now that Miu and I know that we're demons too, does that mean we can help you out with tracking?"

"We'll see how well you do first. It shouldn't be too hard, I've already trained the both of you in the basics. We just have to work on your spirit energy usage, that's all." She took a bite of one of the strawberries. "By the way, Miu should be back soon so we should all go change."

Everyone agreed and went off to change.

(About 15 mins later)

Miu walked through the door into Ayame's house, a tall girl with long ebony hair and crystal green eyes followed behind her. "This house hasn't changed a bit sense I left the last time." Shinami said as she removed her shoes, looking around as she did so.

Ayame walked down the stairs and peeked around the corner as she heard someone talking. "Shinami! Welcome back." She ran over and gave the tall girl a hug.

"Hello Ayame and thank you." Shinami smiled back returned the hug as well. "It's been a long time since I've seen you. How have you been?" She released the girl, holding her by the shoulders at arms' length.

"I've been alright, a few fights here and there, but nothing to serious." Ayame replied.

Shinami raised an eyebrow. "That's not what Miu tells me. She says that you were all attacked by a couple of kitsune."

Ayame sweat-dropped. 'Should have known I wouldn't be able to keep that from her.' "Umm yeah, I'll tell you about that later."

Shinami just smiled and pulled Ayame into another hug. "You've grown so much, and yet you haven't changed at all. You still try to keep others out of things that you think they can't handle."

"Old habits die hard. Oh by the way, I have some really important news for Miu and you." Ayame took a step back and cleared her throat. "It seems that we have two new demons here in Kyoto." Ayame said winking. "And I'm hoping to make them trackers."

Miu went wide eyed. "You mean you'll finally have some more help. Who is it?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes Ayame dear, please tell us who are your new partners?" Shinami asked.

Ayame smiled and pointed over at Miu. "Well, you're one for starters. Naoko is the other." She grinned and jutted a thumb toward the living room where the other girl sat.

"Huh! B-but there must be some mistake! I-I can't be a demon!" Miu stuttered. "I don't know whether to be happy that I can help or scared about it."

Ayame looked over at her friend. "I'm sorry Miu, maybe I should have waited to tell you. You don't have to become a tracker if you don't want to. I've already talked it over with Naoko and she said she would help me. But you two would make an awesome team with her being part wind demon, and you being a storm demon."

Miu shook her head. "It's okay. It's probably best that I know. I would love to help you Ayame, but what is it that I can do?"

"We're going to try and find out later, today I'm going to train Naoko though. We might have to wait for your powers to surface before we can do anything." she smiled over at her older friend. "You're welcome to join us if you like Shinami."

Shinami smiled, and hugged Miu's shoulders. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. Just give me a moment to say hello to everyone else." Shinami walked into the house and toward the living room. As she talked with the others, Hiei came down from upstairs.

"Hn, is that your friend?" he asked, nodding his head toward Shinami. Ayame nodded with a smile. "Where's her brother?"

Ayame's smile quickly faded as she walked to the window to look outside. Hiei followed her and leaned against the counter. 'He better not be here. I don't need to be explaining to Shinami why her brother is a screaming ball of fire.'Aayme thought as she opened up the window. Hiei smirked. Ayame hesitated but looked out to see...nothing. "Phew, Maybe he got left at the airport."

"Hello, Ayame-kun." a sickeningly sweet voice called from the door. Ayame straightened and tensed. "My you're looking ravishing." The voice said, only this time it was closer.

Hiei watched as Ayame clenched her fist, her eyes began to flicker back and forth between their icy blue, and that intimidating orange. "Stay where you're at Sota." she commanded in a dangerously low voice. She turned to look at the boy. His black hair fell messily in his cold gray eyes, she also noted the band he wore around his wrist where she had burned him before. There was something else about him as well, something that Ayame wasn't able to put her finger on.

"What no hug for me?" he asked in mock hurt. He gave a wicked smile as Ayame growled.

"Shut up Sota! You're lucky I don't set you aflame where you stand." Her eyes had stopped flickering at this point, they were now orange, and were glaring dangerously at the boy.

Sota just snickered, then noticed Hiei. "Who are you?" He asked disgusted. The fact that Ayame had another man in her house didn't sit well with him.

"He's a friend of mine, and he needs a place to stay for awhile. It's really known of your concern." Ayame replied through clenched teeth. She fought back the urge to hit him, just his presence made her feel ill.

He snorted. "Taking tenants now that you have so many empty bedrooms, Ayame? You should have said something, I would have come and stayed with you if you were so lonely."

That was it. Ayame lunged at Sota, catching him off guard and punching him hard in the face, leaving behind a burn mark.

Hiei caught Ayame as she went to hit him again. "He's not worth it. Once was enough." he glared down at Sota who was now swearing under his breath as he held his burning cheek.

The rest of the group stood in the doorway. Shinami walked over and put her hand on Ayame's shoulder as she starred down at her brother. "I told you to wait outside Sota, this is exactly the reason why. Get up and go back to the car."

Glaring at his sister, Sota did so, giving Ayame a menacing look before walking out the door. Shinami turned back to her friend. "I apologize for my brother, he promised me that he wouldn't try anything while we were here."

Ayame shook her head. "Don't worry about it Shinami. I'll try to keep from hurting him again, but I'm not making any guarantees." Her eyes slowly went back to their original blue. "Okay, we have training to do. Miu you can sit it out for today if you want, since we still don't know what your powers are." Miu nodded and picked up her keys.

"I'll go drop Sota off at my house. I'll meet you guys up in a while. You'll be in the field right?"

Ayame nodded and smiled. "We'll see you there."

(At the field)

"Okay Naoko, today we're going to just focus on what you can do, and how you do it. Are you ready?"

Naoko nodded, a determined look on her face. She stood at one end of the field while Ayame stood opposite.

Everyone else stood along the side, watching and waiting to see what would happen.

"First we'll start with what I know you can do. I'm going to charge at you, alright? I want you to form a barrier to stop me." Ayame drew her sword and readied it.

Naoko nodded and got into a defense position.

* * *

Shonoki: Muhahahaha, cliffy again. The next one will have a couple more fight scenes in it, and not as many explanations. I will also put in a little mush, and Sota as well...him to maim Sota or not to maim Sota that is the unanswered question. R&R please. 


	17. Fianlly, a fight scene!

Shonoki: I took three days of writers block but it's finally done. This thing is ten pages long and took me a till 2:30 am to finish.

Yusuke: Shouldn't you be in bed, you know, like normal human beings?

Shonoki: Yeah, but normal human beeings aren't insomniacs, now arre they...

Hiei: Go to bed onna, your making mistakes.

Shonoki: Alright, alright. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own (yawn) the Yuyu Hakusho gang.

* * *

Previously- "First we'll start with what I know you can do. I'm going to charge at you, alright? I want you to form a barrier to stop me." Ayame drew her sword and readied it.

Naoko nodded and got into a defense position.

* * *

Ayame charged at Naoko, a few notches less then full speed.

Naoko put her hands out in front of her, and said the first thing that popped into her head. "Err, Wind Dome!"

Ayame ran full force into the dome, which in turn, ricocheted her back. She skid to a halt and smiled. "Good job Naoko! That was really good."

After a few more attempts Naoko smiled then got rid of the shield. "Can we try attacks now?" she asked, looking hopeful.

Ayame thought for a minute. "I guess we could, it couldn't hurt. I'll start out slow, and then speed up depending on how you do."

"Alright, I'm ready when you are." Naoko stood ready in an offensive position. 'This will be fun'

Ayame charged at Naoko at normal speed, ready to punch her. Naoko ducked under it, getting behind her friend. "Wind blades." The air shot forward, toward Ayame, like multiple daggers. Though the only thing they hit was an after image that Ayame left behind as she moved out of the way. "Huh, what the?" Naoko looked around confused.

Ayame tapped her friend on the shoulder. "You'll have to be faster then that." she said with a smile.

Naoko spun around and tried to kick Ayame, who had jumped back in order to dodge. "Hold still!" Naoko called as she tried once more to land a punch.

"Your enemies aren't going to hold still for you Naoko, you're going to have to get used to this." Ayame made to charge again but was stopped as a gust of wind picked her up and carried her high above the ground. "Kyaa, Naoko Tome put me down!"

Naoko smiled and started to laugh. "No way this is way too much fun." She used the air to flip Ayame upside down, causing a few of the others to giggle or snicker.

"Naoko put me down before you lose control and drop me, I'd rather not be a pancake."

Ayame crossed her arms as she glared down at her friend. The blood was starting to rush to her head. 'I think I'm gonna be sick.'

Naoko continued laughing as she had the wind play around with Ayame, lifting her even higher. She moved her hands a bit, turning her friend so that she was right side up again. She watched as Ayame just glared down. Her smile quickly disappeared though as her vision began to blur and her head started spinning.

Ayame continued with her arms crossed, then caught sight of Naoko staggering. Her friend rubbed her temples then tried to lower her back down. "Naoko! Naoko hang on!" Naoko gave a weary smile before falling unconscious.

"Oh sh-ahhh!" Ayame yelled as she started to fall. Closing her eyes she mentally kicked herself. 'Great my best friends going to wake up to find she put me six feet under. I hope she's okay...'

She let herself fall, even if she tried to land correctly it wouldn't do her any good with as high up as she was. "This is it." She shut her eyes tight and waited for the impact, but only felt something wrap around her, holding her close. Looking up she met with Ruby eyes.

"You should have set rules earlier." He landed on the ground but didn't let go of her yet. "Your lucky she only passed out, and that I was able to catch you."

Ayame nodded. "Yeah, thanks for catching me." She looked over at everybody else helping Naoko up. Hiei let go of her, and she walked over to examine her friend.

Koji picked her up and looked up at the icy eyed girl. "Is she going to be alright!"

Ayame nodded and smiled. "She just used up to much energy is all, give her a few hours of rest and she'll be back to normal."

Koji sighed in relief. "I'm going to take her back home and let her recoup. I'll have her call you when she wakes up."

"We're going with them, my mom said she wants to catch up with Shinami and her family while they're here. We'll be back tomorrow." Miu said as she followed after Koji.

Ayame waved good bye to her friends. When they were out of sight she stretched and began walking the opposite way of her house.

"Where are you going?" Hiei asked as she walked passed him.

"I'm going to start looking for that necklace. Koenma said that Riku hid it some where before he died. I think I might no where it is." She turned to look at Hiei, "You coming?"

"Hn. " he began to walk after her, hands in pockets.

Ayame smiled and continued to walk. They soon came to a small lake, a dock floating in the middle. Ayame sat down and began to take of her shoes.

"You think he tossed it in the lake?" Hiei asked as he looked down at the clear water.

Ayame shook her head. "I think he hid it in a certain spot, but he only way I know how to get to it is by water." She pointed to what looked like a pile of rocks under the water. "There's an underwater cavern down there. Those rocks cover the entrance." She started to pull off her shirt, showing a bathing suit top under it. "You mind coming with me?"

"I don't have anything better to do." Hiei pulled of his shirt as well. Looking over at Ayame, he noticed two scars that ran parallel to each other on either side of her spine, each one starting at her shoulders and running to the small of her back. "Those don't look like there from your fight at the park." he noted.

Ayame glanced over her shoulder. "What those? No, they appeared there right after the battle you saw in my dream last night."

Hiei remained silent. Ayame turned to look at him, no real emotion showing on her face.

"I don't really care that you saw, I'd just rather you ask next time you decide to invade my mind." She walked past him and turned to face the lake. "Anyway, let's get going." She ran full speed at the water, jumping at the last moment.

Hiei smirked as she splashed into the water.

"Kyaa! This is cold!" she yelled as she came up shivering. A splash from the edge of the water told her that Hiei had gotten in as well.

"Stop complaining onna its fine." He swam over and floated above the rock formation.

"Shut it hikage. I have a name." She focused some energy and raised her body heat a bit. "That's better. Alright, you ready?"

Hiei nodded, not showing wither he cared or not about what was happening.

"Get a good gulp of air, there's only one stop were you can catch your breath before we reach the cavern." She took a breath and dove, heading for the rocks.

Hiei followed her, when he got the bottom he helped her move one of the rocks, revealing a tunnel.

Ayame swam into the tunnel and followed it, taking the wide path and never veering off into one of the smaller branches. She soon came to the air pocket were she went to catch her breath. She waited for Hiei to come up as well.

Hiei soon came up too. "What makes you think your brother hid the necklace down here?"

"My brother found this spot, it's were we went if either of us need some where to go just to get away from the world. We're the only ones that know about it so I figured he hid it down here." she smiled at Hiei. "Thanks for coming, we're almost there." She took another breath and went under.

Hiei sighed. 'I'm starting to go soft.' He shook his head and smirked, then followed after her. They continued swimming for a little ways more until another opening was visible above them.

Ayame surfaced and swam to the edge, hoisting herself onto the rock floor. She walked over to a box against one of the walls, taking out a ziplock bag of dry paper. She emptied it into a fire pit and set the paper aflame, before sitting down next to it.

Hiei looked around the dimly lit cavern, taking note of the wooden box marked supplies, and the large rock by the wall. "I thought you said that the lake was the only way here?" He raised an eyebrow as he looked over at her.

She smiled guiltily. "Actually I never took the dry path, so I don't know where the opening is." She stood up and walked over to the opposite wall, removing a stone and pulling out a shoe box. She set it on the ground and lifted up the lid...

(Else where)

"She seems to have just found out about the 'Immortals Necklace' sir. She's looking for it as we speak." Sota bowed in front of a man sitting in a throne like chair.

The man smirked, his clawed hand held a glass of red liquid. "Good. It seems the twins did their job well in informing her of it. Tell me Sota, how long do you think it will take our kohana to find it?" he swirled his glass, looking down at the boy with piercing purple eyes.

Sota stood and looked at the man. "I can't say for sure, her brother was smart to hide it and not tell her, the bastard. I'd give her a few days."

"Hmm, good. Yes, Riku was an intelligent lad, his sister is just as much a pain." The man took a sip from the glass. "I don't understand why she takes it so personally when my minions go out for a meal or to have fun. Tell me, who is this new one, the man that has come to stay with the tracker?" he asked calmly.

Sota sneered. "She says he's a friend of hers, I do believe its Hiei Jaganshi, the one thrown form the Isle of Ice."

The man tensed, glaring down at the boy. "And you didn't think it important enough to tell me this sooner!" his voice was low and hard as he tightened his grip around his glass.

Sota visibly paled as he took a step back. "I didn't get a-" he stopped abruptly as the wine glass crashed onto the floor close to him.

"No excuses! The man stood up and grabbed what looked to be a small key. "He's been a thorn in my side for long enough." He walked over near Sota, sticking the key in the air and turning as if he was unlocking something. A small click sounded as a portal appeared. "Go and get rid of him, I don't need him helping her when I go to retrieve the necklace." He gave a small smirk as he looked down at the boy. "You can have some fun with the girl if you wish."

Sota gave another bow before entering the portal, a wicked grin on his face. "Yes Master."

(Back in the cavern)

Ayame leaned back and sighed. "I can't believe it's not here."

Random papers and pictures scattered the ground. Hiei leaned against a wall, looking over the mess. They had gone through three different boxes, and didn't come up with anything that even mentioned the necklace.

"Could it be back at your house?" he asked emotionlessly.

Ayame put the lid on one of the boxes and put it back in the little crevice where she found it. "Maybe, although I don't know where he would have hid it. There aren't that many places to look."

"It's probably in his room some where. That would be a logical place to put it."

"..."

Hiei looked over at her when she didn't reply. She had tensed up a bit, and was looking at the floor. "What?"

"It's nothing." She turned and smiled. "Let's get going. It's probably dark out by now." She walked over to the rock that led to the dry exit.

"Are you able to move that thing?" Hiei raised an eyebrow as she tried to push the rock. Ayame didn't reply. He walked over and moved her out of the way. "It'll take for ever the way you're doing it." In one swift motion, Hiei unsheathed his blade, sliced down the center of the rock and resheathed the sword.

The rock split down the middle, leaving the exit open. Ayame looked over at Hiei, a little impressed.

"What's that thing made of, diamonds?"

"Hn." Hiei started walking into the tunnel. Ayame followed after putting out the fire in the cavern.

They walked in silence for most of the way. The sound of dripping water was the only thing that reminded Ayame that she could still hear.

"You don't want to search his room do you?" Hiei's voice broke the silence, asking the question that she knew was coming.

"No not really. Too many memories." She left it at that, surely that was a good enough answer.

"So your just going to keep them locked in that room."

The statement was enough to stop Ayame. She looked up at Hiei, a mixture of hurt and anger in her eyes. "I don't appreciate that comment."

Hiei stared at her, face showing nothing. "Why, because it's true?" he continued.

"Take it back." Ayame clenched her fist. This was a touchy subject for her, and one she didn't want to talk about. "Take it back Hiei." she looked down at the floor.

Hiei went to say something, but stopped.

Ayame's shoulders shook slightly. She couldn't hold it in anymore. She felt stupid really, 'Four years of fighting back tears and they come out now in front of him.' She grit her teeth and began walking toward the exit, passing Hiei without saying anything.

Hiei watched her leave. He waited till she was out of sight before he followed. 'What if it were Yukina' that part of him he hardly paid attention to seemed to be larger then usual. "Hn," it was more out of frustration then anything. "She's making me go soft."

Hiei emerged from the cave in a section of some woods. The rustle of branches above him caused him to look up. Ayame landed on a lower branch not far from him, and then jumped down to the ground. She didn't even acknowledge the fact that he was there as she started walking away.

"Ayame." Hiei called as he watched her walk away. She didn't say anything, but continued to walk. Hiei glared at her back, but went to follow her. "Get back here onna."

Ayame wiped her eyes as she walked. 'Stupid Hiei.' she looked continued to walk put eventually came to a stop. 'Why does he have to be right.' she shook her head. "_Get back here onna._"

Ayame turned toward where the voice came from. 'That sounded like Hiei.' She walked in the direction it came from. 'How far back is he...did he just call me onna again?'

Hiei muttered a string of curses as the girl continued to walk. "I've had enough of this." He charged full speed at her, grabbing her from behind.

"Hiei what are you doing?" Ayame watched as he struggled with somebody...that looked exactly like her.

Hiei looked up. "What the?" he turned the person he had around to face him.

"What's the matter, I'm not pretty enough for you." A voice matching that of Ayame's came from the girl. She gave a smirk as she stood to look at him.

Hiei glared down at it. Looking up he noticed the real Ayame coming up to them, dagger in hand. A quick flick of her wrist and it was in the tree, next to the girls face.

"What do you want Sota?" Ayame glared. She didn't need this right now.

Hiei looked over at the person as he started to morph into his real self. A low chuckle came from the boy. "Why Ayame, I thought you'd be happy to see me." He yanked the dagger out of the tree. "I have to say, your aim is very good."

"I missed you idiot." Ayame retorted coldly, her eyes flashing orange. Sota dropped it to the ground as the dagger erupted into flames.

"Heh, nice trick." Sota turned to Hiei, his face turning hard with despise. "I have business with you." He took a step forward, a lance appearing in his left hand.

Hiei drew his katana, still glaring at the boy. "If you insist on dying." He said as he watched Sota walk around him.

Ayame took out two more daggers, ready if something went wrong...or if Sota insisted on commenting on her. 'Wait, duh this is Shinami's brother'. She didn't feel like explaining to her friend why her brother wasn't going to be coming home.

"To tell the truth Jaganshi, I have orders to kill you. Seems you and your buddies caused nothing but problems for the master." Sota answered Hiei's question. He charged at him, Lance down for a low swipe.

'Master! Wait that's the same thing the Kitsune said...' Ayame watched as Hiei jumped back and rammed into Sota. "Hiei, what ever you do don't kill him, no matter how tempting it is." Ayame turned to head toward the house. "I'll be right back."

Hiei nodded as she left. "You're lucky you're that women's sister. It's the only thing keeping you from meeting with an acquaintance of mine."

Sota didn't reply, he just gave a smirk and focused some energy into the blade of the lance. Swinging it parallel to the ground, the energy lashed out toward Hiei. 'I'll finish this quick, then go off and find the necklace before Ayame, that ought to make a good bargaining chip.'

Hiei dodged the attacked and appeared behind Sota, leaving a good sized cut on the boys arm. "I won't let you get that far. You should watch what you plan when you're around a telepath." Hiei said as he watched the boy grab his arm in pain. "Who is it you're working for?"

* * *

Ayame ran toward Miu's house, her brothers katana strapped to her waist, and new daggers hidden on her. She went to round a corner but took it to fast, causing her to smack into a very large person.

"Ahh, I'm sorry." She gave a slight bow as she stood.

"Don't worry about it, no harm done...Yet!"

Ayame moved as a club came toward her head. Looking up, a demon stood in front of her hoisting the club up to strike again.

"I don't have time for this, so either move or die!" She went to move around him.

The demon swung again, only succeeding in causing a large hole in the sidewalk. "Don't bother going for help. Master has his plan laid out, your friends aren't going to be much help at all."

Ayame looked over at him, her eyes cold. "What's he planning?" she asked calmly.

The demon laughed. "Ha, You think I'd tell you, how stupid do you think I am."

The words had barely left his mouth as he found himself on pinned to the ground with Ayame holding a dagger to his neck. "You were stupid enough not to answer me the first time I asked!"

The demon swallowed hard as he started to visibly sweat. "Pl-Please don't kill me, I tell you. I-I'll- erck!" The demon started to fight for air.

Ayame backed off a bit and watched as he clutched at his throat, fighting to breath.

"Mas-Master please...I-I wouldn't tell!" The demon wheezed out. His struggling slowed and ultimately stopped altogether.

'What the hell is going on?' Ayame examined the demons neck, there were no bruisers or markings visible though. She looked around and found a place to put the body before heading towards Miu's again.

* * *

"Who I work for is none of your concern." Sota stood up and looked over at Hiei, an evil smile playing across his face. "You'll know soon though." His spear shot forward, hitting nothing but air.

"You're not even worth the effort." Hiei swung his sword so that the flat of the blade hit Sota in the ribs, hard enough to crack one. He stumbled back, clutching his side. "You really are bad at this, give up while you can still stand." Hiei said, he was done playing this game.

Sota just glared at him. "I'm going to kill you, you and her both."

Hiei noted the increase in spirit energy coming from the boy. 'Perhaps this will be interesting after all.' He stood ready, waiting for Sota to make a move.

Giving a wicked Smile a ball of energy formed in Sota's hand. Letting it go it floated in the air and began to take on the shape of a person.

As the form became more and more apparent, Hiei could feel his anger for Sota rising. The ball of energy had taken on the form of Yukina. She now stood in front of him, looking at him with emotionless eyes.

"Let's see how you fair against the one person your unable to disappoint." Sota called. A knife appeared in the doubles hand as it made its way toward Hiei.

"Your going to regret this night." Hiei's aura flared up around him. He was starting to find it very hard to keep to what Ayame had said about not killing the boy.

* * *

Ayame banged on Miu's door, not caring how rude they might think she was for coming over at the time she did.

Miu opened the door and looked at her friend sleepily. "Ayame? What are you doing here, do you have any idea what time it is?" she yawned and rubbed her eyes.

Ayame panted. "Look, I'm really sorry for coming here at this time but it's an emergency. I need to talk to Shinami now!" She looked at her friend with pleading eyes.

Miu was a little more alert now. She nodded and let Ayame in as she left to get Shinami. Ayame waited in the doorway, her fingers twitching impatiently.

Shinami came to the door, fully clothed and completely awake. "I already know what's happening, let's go." She looked over at Miu and gave a bow. "Goodnight Miu-chan, I'll be back by morning." She walked through the door in front of Ayame.

"Thank you Miu, I'll explain tomorrow." Ayame waved to her friend as she began racing back toward the woods.

* * *

Shonoki: Haha the notorious cliff hanger strikes again. (yawn) Some one's going to hurt me for doing this one of these days I just know it . I hope you all enjoy. R&R plz. 


	18. Revenge

Shonoki: (Backs away from the pc and stares at monitor with a smile.)

Yusuke: What's the matter?

Shonoki: (Points at screen)

Yusuke: (reads)

Hiei: (walks in) What are the two of you gawking at?

Y&S: (Points to screen)

Hiei: (Reads) ...Can I do it?

Shonoki: No! Well...not yet. The things some people posts really surprise me sometimes. Here's one of the more interesting posts I got, I like this one a lot.

* * *

-twitch. twitch-twitch. twitch...twitch.- I WILL KILL! SOTA WILL DIE!

-hiss- HOW DARE HE DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT! I DON'T CARE WHO'S BROTHER

HE IS, I WOULD SO KILL HIM! GR...-sigh- update soon please.

* * *

Shonoki: Yeah I thought that was pretty cool, and no I did not alter this in anyway. I'm not going to put the name down of who read it only because I don't have their permission, however you can find the comment on the review board.

Disclaimer: I'm really getting tired of putting this...I don not own the YYH gang, I don't have the money to. Please don't sue me .

* * *

Ayame led the way to the scene of the battle, Shinami close behind. "So when did you have the vision?"

"As soon as we got back to Miu's." Shinami replied

Ayame slowed and looked at her dear friend, picking up on the faintest note of disappointment in her voice. "What was the vision?"

"Sota. Something will happen to him tonight that none of us will be able to prevent" Shinami said, a mixture of emotions swelling up.

Ayame felt guilty for second. She was almost happy that Sota would probably get what was coming to him, on the other hand this was Shinami's brother. "What happened to him?"

Shinami just shook her head. "You'll find out, but Ayame whatever happens tonight, please remember that what your doing is something that no one can blame you for. You risk your life for people and never expect to get a thank you from them. Just keep that in mind tonight." Shinami smiled and continued toward the fight, leaving Ayame to think about what she just said.

'Wait, what? What do I have to do with this?' Ayame followed after her.

They both soon came to the field, seeing Hiei move out of the way of the Yukina double, and move closer to Sota to attack him.

"Who's that?" Ayame asked out loud upon seeing what was happening.

Shinami watched, looking at her brother from time to time. "It's some one that Hiei most hold dear. That is Sota's 'Mind Trap'. He forms a ball of energy, which in turn takes the form of somebody close to the opponent."

'Some one close to Hiei...' Ayame shook her head and ran forward, heading for Sota. When she was close enough, she sent a spin kick at his head, knocking him to the ground.

The Yukina double disappeared, fading into the air. Hiei looked over to see Ayame standing a little ways away from Sota. He took note of Shinami also walking toward the boy.

"You alright?" Ayame called, she started walking toward him.

Hiei nodded. "Why did you bring her here?" He asked motioning toward the ebony haired girl.

"Sota is her brother, I wanted to ask her what I should do about him, she came on her own accord. Sota has a connection to the necklace, I'm just not sure how yet. With that said, he might start becoming a threat, and if that happens I'm going to have to do my job and get rid of him." She looked over at the two siblings.

Hiei nodded. "Will you kill him?"

Ayame went to answer but stopped short when she heard Sota start yelling. Turning she noticed that Shinami had him bonded to the tree. "Stop struggling little brother, your only making the binds tighter."

Ayame walked over to Sota, looking him dead in the eye. "Who is it that's after the Immortals Necklace?" she asked sternly.

Sota didn't answer. He just stared at Ayame, laughing as he did so.

A dagger embedded itself in the tree, leaving a cut on his cheek. "You had better answer Sota, or so help me I'll leave you here to rot."

"Why? Seriously Ayame tell me why you would do that? Is it because you hate me, is it because it's your job, or is it because you want revenge?" Sota starred at her, a twisted smile on his face.

Ayame glared at him. "What? Revenge for what?"

"For the death of your brother of course. It was a demon that killed him right. You can't tell me that deep down you don't want some one to pay for that. To tell the truth, I wouldn't blame you if for wanting to see some one suffer."

Ayame could feel the air around her heating up, along with her anger. "Shut up Sota." she said through clenched teeth.

"That's the reason why you continued on with being a tracker even after Riku died, isn't it. You did it to get revenge."

"I'm warning you Sota, stop now before I hurt you." Ayame felt something trying to force its way out. She fought it back, unsure as to what it was, but Sota carrying on the way he was wasn't helping.

"You do it to see them cower, to feel the same way Riku did. That's it isn't it, just admit it."

Hiei took a step forward, fully intended on putting an end to the boys talking. However he was stopped by Ayame. He looked over at her, something about her demeanor had changed drastically.

Shinami had noticed the change as well, she backed up a bit, motioning for Hiei to do the same.

"Shinami, release the binds." Ayame's voice was still edgy, her body was tensed.

The twisted smile had yet to leave Sota's features. He sneered at Ayame, almost cockily. "Thank you kohana, those were getting so uncomfortable." he rubbed his arms were the binding used to be. "Master Ryu was right about you Ayame. All I'd have to do is back you into a corner with the truth, and play upon your conscience." Sota then noticed the dramatic change in the temperature.

Ayame's eyes where shadowed over by her bangs as she looked at the ground. "I'll give you one chance to run."

Sota was oblivious to her offer, instead he took this chance to continue mocking her. "What are you going to do, burn me again, that gets old Ayame dear in fact I think I've gotten used to it."

Ayame's aura flared up, however it wasn't its normal orange color. Instead it was dark, blue, almost black. Energy crackled through it, causing Sota to back up as it lashed out at him.

"Oh no Sota, what I plan on doing to you is much worse." She looked up at him now her eyes a shade that no one had seen before. Her eyes had turned the same color purple as Riku's. She glared at Sota, seeing the fear in the boy's eyes as she stepped toward him.

"St-stay back!" The lance appeared in his hand again as he continued to stumble back, tripping several times as he did. He swung it furiously in front of him, trying to keep Ayame back.

Ayame continued forward, knocking the lance away wither hand, and closing the distance between them with little effort. "What's the matter Sota? I'm not taking your crap anymore so now you're going to run." Ayame unsheathed her sword and sliced it centimeters over Sota's head.

Shinami and Hiei watched from the tree that Sota was bond to only moments before.

"You're probably wondering why I'm not stopping her." Shinami broke the silence. Hiei looked over at her. She smiled slightly. "I'd rather Ayame took care of him now, before things got out of hand with him. I trust her judgment, she'll do what she knows is right."

Hiei looked at her a little longer, then back at the battle. "So this isn't pay-back?" he questioned with a smirk.

"Oh, no. I never said that, she'll make him pay for each vulgar or rude comment he made to her. It will all just be mixed into one package." She replied.

Sota backed up into a tree, visibly shaking and in a cold-sweat. "I-I-I'm sorry." Sota watched as she approached him, dodging one of the energy bolts that shot at him again.

Ayame smirked, turning the sword over in her hand. "Sorry huh. Sorry for what Sota? All those times you put me down and degraded me. All those times you embarrassed me or my family. How about all those times you ran your mouth about Riku and my parents, calling them weak and pitiful."

She had a firm grip on the hilt now, the blade resting on her shoulder as she stood over him, eyes reflecting the moonlight, making them the only thing visible. "Or are you just sorry because you're a coward!"

Sota gave a scream out of fear as the blade came rushing toward him, stopping just above him. "You're the only pitiful weakling that I see. After all the things that you did through t the years Sota, all the horrible things you put people through, death is a luxury you don't deserve at the moment."

Ayame resheathed her blade and turned to walk away. She started walking toward the other two members.

Sota stood up shakily glaring at her back. "How dare you make a fool of me!" he yelled at her, his lance appearing again. "I'll make you regret it!" He shot forward, launching his lance into the air and toward Ayame.

Ayame stopped walking, and took a step to the side, avoiding the attack. "You did that all on your own Sota." Ayame's aura started to concentrate in her hand, the energy still crackling around it. Ayame tackled Sota to the ground "Shadow Judgment!"

Sota's body absorbed the energy, sending him into a state of screams and convulsions. Shinami rushed over and let Sota's head rest on her lap. Hiei walked over as well, looking over at Ayame.

"He's facing his demons." Ayame stated calmly. She looked at Shinami apologetically. "I'm sorry Shinami, I didn't even know I could do that. I only meant to-"

"It's all right Ayame." Shinami cut her off. "I told you earlier that none of us could have prevented it." She placed a hand on her brother's forehead, releasing a soft glow of her own energy. Instantly Sota stopped convulsing and screaming. She stood up holding the boy on her back. "Thank you Ayame, I will see you tomorrow. Have a good night." Shinami bowed slightly and head off back to Miu's

Ayame smiled and gave a relieved sigh. "Well I'm ready for bed." She took a shaky step forward, stumbling a bit.

"I don't think your going to make it that far baka." Hiei stated as he watched her. He smirked as she glared at him.

"Don't call me that hikage." She took another shaky step but slipped, sending her self forward. In a flash Hiei had her.

"Stop being dumb and maybe I will." He helped her to her feet then picked her up bridal style.

Ayame felt the heat rush to her cheeks for the second time that day. "Hiei," she said he rushed off toward her house.

"Hn." was the blunt answer.

Ayame smiled. "Never mind, I tell you tomorrow." she drifted off to sleep shortly after, exhausted from the previous battle.

Hiei tensed a bit as she snuggled closer to him, but soon relaxed. He looked down at her then smirked as he shook his head.

* * *

Shonoki: Sorry it's so short. I had to leave something to right about next time. Wow, that was a quick update. Some one mentioned to me that I didn't put the meanings of a few words in the last chapter, so here they are.

Kohana- little flower.( Ayame translates to Iris, so this made sense to me)

Hikage-Fire shadow (seemed appropriate )

There you have it, R&R please, I like reading the reviews and they keep me a typing , later!


	19. He's Back

Shonoki: I love my fans ...so very much. I have a new idea here. From now on, I'm going to put at least one review up from someone. I keep getting all these ones that give me that, Hurray-they-Like-What-I'm–Doing feeling. You all seemed to like Sota getting his just desserts last chap It was actually hard because I wasn't sure if I should kill him or not, I figured temporary catatonic state would suffice...Anyway, with that said...

To Sausage- Your very welcome, And thank you for the review!

And here's a review that I got from the last chapter

That...was...TOTALLY WICKED!THE WAY SHE WAS ALL 'DEATH IS NOT WHAT YOU DESERVE RIGHT KNOW'/sighs/ yeah thats rich. moving on. you. you are a great writer brava, brava (so ur in the kno, after this statement ur gonna get pretty wierded out starting... now!)BRAVA EL EXELLENTE SIR MANUFIEC NADA RIDICULE(my English translation: bravo is excellent and magnificent not ridiculous)

p.s love the fluff

Again I will not put the name down without permission of the person. If you would like for me to put your name down with a review, please let me know.

Alright with all that said and done on to chapter 19! (Steven King Fans Favorite chapter )

Disclaimer: (In monotone) I do not own anything that pertains to YYH, (Back to regular cheery-ness) I do own Ayame and her friends though!

* * *

Hiei sat on the living room window sill. It was the morning after the fight with Sota. He had left Ayame in her room and went to bed in his, but however, was unable to sleep much. "What is wrong with me?" he asked himself as he starred outside. He tilted his head up as he heard movement upstairs. He smirked when a loud thud sounded from Ayame's room. 

Ayame rubbed her head as she sat up. "Ouch, how did I end up back in my room?" The scene from last night flashed through her mind, from the fight with Sota to Hiei carrying her back. She blushed again. "Ohh yeah,"

She stood up and grabbed her house robe from the back of the door, as well as some clothes from her closet. "I wonder how he's fairing, maybe I was too hard on him."

"I think you could have done worse onna." Hiei's voice sounded from her doorway. He snickered as Ayame jumped.

"Okay first of all, knocking is a good way of letting some know your there. Second, quit calling me that." She starred at him flatly. She then walked and sat down on her bed again. "I didn't even know how I did what it was I did last night." She sighed and flopped back.

Hiei leaned against the frame of her door with his eyes closed. "Are you sure that your only ability if fire?"

"Pretty sure. I got the ability from my mom, my dad on the other hand was a psychic as far as I know. I only know what Riku told me. The only I learned to do with my psychic abilities were telepathy, mind shields, and barriers. Riku was better with it then I was." She sighed, then looked over at Hiei. "Who was the girl that Sota had you fighting when me and Shinami showed up?"

He opened his eyes at the question. "It was my sister." He stated simply.

Ayame about fell off her bed. "You have a sister?" she sweat-dropped. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. 'Why do I feel so relieved to here that.'

Hiei smirked at her reaction. "You never asked."

Ayame just glared at him. "Arrogant." She stated as she stood up.

"Stubborn"

"Baka"

"Onna."

She stopped, and turned to look him in the eyes. She smiled at him.

Before Hiei had time to ask her what she was smiling at, Ayame had him enveloped in a hug.

"Thank-you hikage." as quick as she was there she had disappeared into the bathroom.

Hiei hadn't moved from the doorway, his body still tense. His mind was still processing what had just happened. 'She just...' for once Hiei couldn't think straight. He did recognize the fact that something felt off when Ayame wasn't around. He shook his head and walked down stairs, muttering to himself.

Ayame leaned against the door, her heart was racing but a she was smiling. 'He's going to kill me for that later.'

(Later)

Ayame walked down stairs, towel drying her hair. She had heard talking downstairs, and wanted to know who it was. Looking into the living room, she saw Hiei talking on the communicator.

"No we haven't found it yet." He replied as Koenma asked him about the necklace. "Ryu is the one after it though. One of his accomplices gave up the name."

Ayame leaned against the wall as she listened to him. 'I should probably go start looking for it.' She walked up stairs and into her room. Taking a small key out of her dresser draw she walked back out into the hall and to the closed door in-between her and Hiei's rooms.

She went to insert the key, taking note of how bad she was shaking. "Come on Ayame, it's only a room." she scolded herself. She turned the key and pushed the door open slowly.

The room wasn't anything special. Opened books littered the desk in the corner. The bed was against the opposite wall, still untouched from when it was last used. Book shelves lined the walls, numerous books occupying their shelves.

Ayame took a shaky step into the room, breathing deep as she did. "It still smells like him..." she noted as she walked over to his desk. She looked over the books and pieces of paper that had notes scribbled across them. "What were you doing?" She marked the page of one then looked at the cover. "Ancient Artifacts of Makai...You were researching the necklace!"

Hiei walked up the stairs and saw that the door was open. He walked over and watched as Ayame looked over the notes and such. "Find anything?" he asked while walking in.

"Not much, Riku was studying the necklace though. All of this stuff is notes on just it alone. None of it talks about where he could have put it." She replaced the book and walked over to one of the book cases, scanning over the books. "Maybe Riku kept a journal some where." she pulled out a book and skimmed through the pages.

Hiei nodded and walked over to one of the other shelves, doing the same.

(An hour and a half later)

Ayame sat on the floor at the foot of the bed, while Hiei leaned against the wall. They had gone through every book, on the shelves. Ayame had even checked in the storage boxes in the closet.

"It's not here." Hiei stated as he scanned the room for any place it could be hidden.

Ayame gave a frustrated sigh. "You could have left me a clue Riku!" she brought her fist down to punch the floor.

-Crack-

Ayame blinked as her hand went through the floor.

Hiei smirked. "Nice." he said sarcastically as he went over to look at the damage.

Ayame looked at the hole that her hand was still in. "There's something in here." She pulled her hand out then looked into the hole. A book lay in the hole along with a small locked box. "You have got to be kidding me." She pulled both items out and looked them over.

"Did you come across any keys while we were we searching?" Hiei asked as he examined the lock on the box, it was pretty heavy duty with something etched into the back of it.

Ayame flipped through the pages of the book that was with the box. "There is no key. The lock has to be melted off. It has a seal engraved into it to keep it from being broken." she pointed to a section of writing and showed it to Hiei. "Says so right here."

"Hn," Hiei grabbed the lock on held on to it tight. The lock erupted into the same color flame as Hiei's aura before it liquefied on the floor. Lifting the lid, there was a letter, and a something wrapped in cloth. "This is yours." Hiei handed Ayame the letter then picked up the other item.

Ayame opened the letter and started to read it. She wasn't more then half way through when she felt the first tear slide down her face. She finished off the letter and wiped her eyes.

"What did it say?" Hiei asked as he watched her put the letter down. He hadn't unwrapped the cloth yet.

Ayame leaned back on the floor. "He knew." she closed her eyes and gave a small smile. "He knew what it was going to happen that night, and he went anyway." She gave a small smile and looked over at Hiei. "That's it." she said as she pointed to the small bundle he was holding

Hiei undid the cloth and held up the medallion. "So this trinket is the cause of all the problems." he examined it, looking at the liquid held in the center inside a small crystal like gem. A sort of celtic knot wrapped around the outside of it.

Ayame nodded then stood up, pocketing the letter. "Let me see it." she said as Hiei stood up as well.

He handed it to her. Ayame took it and put it around her neck along with the dragon necklace that he had given her. "You wear that?" he asked as he pointed to it.

Ayame nodded. "Of course, I like dragons, and the necklace is pretty cool." She smiled. Ayame looked toward the door when she heard knocking from down stairs. "Wonder who that is?"

"It's probably one of your friends." Hiei stated as he let her through the door.

Ayame shook her head. "No, they never knock, and they always use the backdoor." She went downstairs and to the door. She opened it, regretting it as soon as she did. The pungent smell of the demon flooded her nose. 'They're coming right to my door now!' she thought as she looked at him.

"Good morning miss." He gave a cheesy smile, showing his fangs as he did.

Ayame glared at him, not really listening. "It's pretty bold of you to show up on my doorstep, aren't you suppose to go and start trouble somewhere so that I have to come find you?"

The demon just smiled more as Ayame's locator went off. "Seems that was the plan."

Ayame moved out of the way as the demon lunged at her with his claws. She turned when she heard it cry out in surprise.

Hiei stood with his katana raised to the demons neck. "Any reason why I shouldn't kill you now." He threatened pressing the blade closer.

"I-I can tell you who's behind this." The demon stuttered, trying to back up further.

Ayame watched them for a bit until the phone rang, she walked into the kitchen and answered it.

"Hello, Mitzuru residence. Ayame speaking."

"Ayame! What's going on?" Naoko's panicked voice came from the phone. "Why are they attacking here! Where are they coming form!"

"Whoa, slow down Naoko, what are you talking about? Who's attacking and wear?" Ayame grabbed her katana from by the door and ran upstairs to grab her daggers.

"There are demons attacking Miu's house. Shinami, her parents and I are fighting them off." Naoko replied a little more calmly now.

Ayame pulled on her sneakers as she held the phone with her shoulder. She had forgotten to check were the locater had detected the demons. "Naoko, stay there with them and try no to get hurt. I'm on my way right now! I'll see you in three." She turned off the phone and went to see how Hiei was doing.

Hiei crouched on the floor next to the demon's body. Ayame walked in and smirked. "What happen, he make a rude comment."

Hiei looked up at her and shook his head. "No, I didn't do anything. He started to gasp for air and then collapsed." He stood up and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you on your way to your friends house?"

"I was waiting for you. Naoko said that demons were attacking Miu's house, they need help." She picked up the body and headed for the back door. "I need to ditch this thing in the woods first, I don't need it stinking up my house."

Hiei smirked and followed after her as she disappeared out the door.

* * *

The two turned the corner and looked at the scene in front of them. A mess of the same dumb ogre like demons were swarming around Miu's house. Shinami, her parents, Koji, Sage, and Naoko were all doing there best to fight them off. 

"What the hell is this!" Ayame almost yelled as she surveyed the battle field. The neighbors were on their doorsteps watching it all, some even trying to tape it. "Get back inside, now!" She motioned at them to go in.

"Forget about them, they aren't the intended targets. Your friends however could use some help." Hiei unsheathed his sword and disappeared into the mob of demons. Ayame rushed in behind him, setting one of the ogres aflame and putting a dagger through another's neck.

She soon made her way to the group. The crackle of electricity caught her attention. Turning she was surprised to see it coming from Miu. Shinami picked up on Ayame's confusion. "I taught it to her yesterday. She wanted to learn." Ayame nodded as she knocked back a demon.

"There are way too many of them. This is going to take forever." Naoko called over to them. Hiei made his way over to the group at this time. Everyone now stood near the house. "We could use an energy attack. Wipe them out in a couple of waves." Ayame suggested, she looked over at both Hiei and Shinami.

The two nodded and stood next to her, getting in front of everyone else. "What about the other residence?" Shinami asked as she looked at the people behind the oncoming flood of monsters.

Ayame frowned and started focusing energy into her sword. "We're going to have to risk it, unless some one can put up a shield around them, we don't really have a choice.

Shinami paused for a moment then smiled. "I can do it if you and Hiei can handle this."

Ayame and Hiei both nodded. "Thanks Shinami, and be careful." Ayame said as the black haired girl left. Ayame looked over at Hiei as he started to undo the bandage around his right arm, revealing the black dragon that wrapped around it. She smiled and looked back toward the demons. "You ready?"

"Hn." Hiei just smirked and got ready for the attack.

"Alright then!" Ayame brought her sword down at the same time Hiei release his dragon. The black dragon took out one half of the mob while Ayame's flame consumed the other, leaving almost no remnants of the demons.

"Well that was fun." Ayame said sarcastically as she resheathed the sword then laid it down next to her. She sat down and started to catch her breath.

Hiei smirked then replaced his bandage. "Why would they attack here? The necklace was at your house."

Ayame thought for a moment and was about to answer but was interrupted as Miu's mother screamed.

Everyone made a dash for inside. Once there, Ayame spotted Ren and Shun, standing on the window sill in the living room, Shun looked to have something over his shoulder.

Miu's mom was up against a table and was pointing to the two Kitsune. "They took Sota." she said.

Shinami went to attack Shun, but was stopped by Ren's bisento pointed at her face. "Leave him here." She said flatly through gritted teeth.

"Not likely. You see, the boy is our trade item. You give us the necklace and we give you back Sota." was the reply. Ayame slowly made her way back to the door as the two stared each other down, waiting for the other to make a move.

'Where are you going?' Hiei asked as she reached the door.

Ayame closed her eyes for a moment. 'Don't worry about it, just keep your eyes on the black haired Kitsune and let me know if he moves.' She noiselessly made her way out the door, and toward the living room window.

The sound of a fight could be heard coming from inside. 'How's Shinami doing?' Ayame asked Hiei as she crouched behind the preoccupied kitsune.

Hiei tilted his head toward the window, noting where she was. 'She's doing fine in keeping them distracted.' Hiei unconsciously moved his hand to the hilt of his katana. 'Don't do anything stupid onna.' He smirked, knowing she was glaring at him.

'Me and you are going to have a talk about properly addressing people by there given names.' She said as she got ready. She waited till Shun's grip loosened on Sota, and then launched herself at him, grabbing the boy and flying up onto the roof, hopefully out of reach of the angry fox.

"You good for nothing wench!" Shun jumped and hoisted himself onto the roof just as Ayame jumped into the nearby tree's and disappeared in the foliage. She moved so that she was hidden from view, Sota leaning against her, seemingly unconscious. 'Well this is awkward.' she thought as she shifted the weight a bit.

Ren at this point had joined his brother in the search. "It's your own fault for not paying attention. You'll be the one dealing with master Ryu when we go back." Ren reprimanded Shun as they passed under the tree. They stopped directly under the branch that she was on.

'Where are you onna?' Hiei's voice echoed through Ayame's head. 'I'm hiding at the moment. The Foxes are looking for me and are-" She stopped when she heard a twig snap behind her.

"Hello traitor." Shun snarled as he went to claw at her. Ayame leaned back far enough to avoid the attack, then jumped up into the air. With Sota with her, it was hard enough to dodge much less fight back.

Shun popped up out of the tree and went to grab her. "You're not going to get away." His clawed weapon raked through the air, catching her pant leg. "Give up the necklace and we'll make your death quick."

Ayame felt herself getting pulled back down. She looked back and noticed Ren making his way up to the top of the tree as well. She formed a small fireball and threw it at the black haired fox.

Shun gave out a cry of pain as his face was burned. He had forgotten about Ayame long enough to release his claws. Ayame fell back to the tree, rocketing off of it as soon as her feet hit something solid. She flew through the air back toward Miu's house.

"Jeez, this has been an eventful day. Why the hell did they want to use Sota as a hostage? He's one of them." She looked down at the boy and sighed. "And yet I just saved his sorry-Erk!"

A searing pain shot through Ayame. She looked down and saw the handles of one of her own daggers sticking out of her gut. A low laugh came from Sota. Ayame stared at him as he turned to land on a taller tree's branch. The only thing keeping her from falling was Sota's hold on her neck.

"You should think twice before helping the enemy. Hope that answered your question." He yanked the necklace off of her neck as he spoke. He smirked then removed the dagger and carelessly dropped Ayame, then sent dagger flying at her as she fell.

Ayame winced as she hit the ground shortly followed by the dagger that landed next to her. "That bastard..." She went to sit up, ignoring the pain shooting through her. 'How could I have been so stupid?' she went to put the dagger away and realized that Sota had taken all her other ones. She looked over as he landed on the ground then began walking toward her.

"Looking for something" He held up the daggers then tossed them behind him. "Don't think I'm finished with you just because I have the Immortals necklace." He smirked then looked up like he was remembering something. "You know Master Ryu described a story to me that seems very similar to what's happening right now." He walked over to Ayame the crouched down next to her. "Your in the same exact situation your mother was in you know."

Ayame eyes widened. What the hell was he talking about? She went to make a smart comment about Sota being a liar, but was stopped as his fist made solid contact with her face.

Sota sneered at her then stood up, holding up the necklace to look it over. "Yep, your whole family died for this thing. Your mom was no exception. Master Ryu made sure of that. She disappointed him though. She held back in their fight, that's why she died. She didn't want to kill him."

Ayame's head was reeling as Sota talked. 'What the hell is he talking about?' She struggled to her feet, holding a hand over her stomach. "How the hell would you know?" Ayame grit her teeth as she spoke, trying to force back the pain that was shooting through her.

"Like I said, master Ryu told me. Your mother had a special power that she wouldn't use to beat him, one that you obviously didn't inherit. You got something different though." He said, making reference to what she did to him last night.

Ayame held the dagger behind her back as she watched Sota. Truth be told, there was no way she was going to be able to handle a battle with Sota in her condition. 'Well this sucks.' She smirked then looked down at the ground.

"What's the matter Ayame, you giving up?" Sota asked mockingly. "You're the same as your mother, you won't kill anybody you have a tie to. That's going to be your downfall." Sota's Lance appeared as his eyes darkened.

'Hiei, if you can hear me. I could use some help right now.' she waited for a reply. Sota had started to walk closer so that she was in range for an attack. She glared heatedly. No way in hell was she going to run scared or beg to live.

'Where are you onna?' Hiei replied.

For the first time, she was happy to here him call her that. 'Give me a second and I'll you should be able to pick up on it.' She tossed her dagger into the ground at Sota's feet.

"Did I hit you so that hard?" He mocked as he looked down at it.

Ayame just smirked as Sota yelled in surprise when the dagger erupted into flames. 'You'd think he'd know better by now.' She moved her hand a bit, causing the flame to encircle Sota.

"Is this the best you got?" Sota yelled over the fire. It flared up over him.

Ayame watched and waited for Sota to turn his back. She spotted the Necklace hanging from his pocket. She ran for it, going through the fire unfazed and exiting it with the necklace in hand.

Sota swung his lance above his head a few times, causing an opening in the flames. He ducked out of it then swung his lance into Ayame, crashing her into a tree.

"When the hell did he get so good at this?" She creaked open her eyes to see Sota getting ready to hit her again.

* * *

Shonoki: Yah I'm evil. Sota's not dead and I left off with a cliff hanger. But believe me when I say there's a good reason. (looks over as small group forms to go kill Sota.) I'll get started on the next chapter... R&R please 


	20. Authors note

Shonoki: Hey everyone. I'm really sorry I haven't been on at all for like a month now. I have a good reason though. See lightning hit my house during a huge storm we had and fried the motherboard of my desktop. So, being the smart person that I am, I hooked the Internet up to my laptop. Mind you my laptop is over 4 years old. I was typing up chapter 20 and was on page five, when my laptop started making this loud strange clicking noise. 2 seconds later the Evil Blue screen popped up saying that My computer was shutting down……I haven't been able to get it to turn back on sense.

Hiei: The story is over then?

Shonoki: Ha! Yeah right! Like I'm going to let not having a computer stop me. After the school year started I accessed my email for the first time in 1 month. I have actual Emails, personal emails from people who read my story. Thank you so very much to those who did this. I will type up the story on my school computer and save it here. I should be able to get it up sometime soon. Thank you again and see you soon .


	21. Sota's Demise and a Week of Peace

Shonoki: Sorry if this is really short, I have only less than an hour to type it.

Hiei: Are you still typing on the schools computers?

Shonoki: Yep, It's harder because I have to do work at the same time, but I can also do this during my study hall hours. All right, here is the REAL chapter 20 in all it's soon to be glory. Enjoy.

* * *

Disclaimer: Blah blah don't own YYH blah blah….

* * *

Sota raised his lance high, ready to send a deathblow to Ayame. "Hope you've made your peace with everyone, because you'll never see them again." The lance sang as the wind rushed past it through the air.

"This is it." Ayame closed her eyes tight and waited for the blow.

-CLANG-

The sound of clashing metal caught her attention. Looking up, Ayame saw Hiei, blocking the lance and glaring daggers at Sota. "What took you?" she asked jokingly as she regained her stance.

Hiei pushed Sota away before looking over at her. "Your friend and I were tracking the Kitsune." His eyes trailed up and down her form, taking note of her wounds. Turning back to Sota, his eyes darkened "Can we kill him this time?"

Ayame thought for a moment. "I'll give you permission to not hold back, if he dies in the process, that's fine."

Hiei smirked, then nodded.

Sota sneered at the two. "What's the matter Ayame, can't fight your own battles? Looks to me like the coward is the one standing in front of me."

"Then stop looking in a mirror." Ayame clutched her fist as she waited for Sota to attack.

The wait wasn't long. In an instant Sota was charging at them, lance out and ready. "You'll die like the rest!"

Hiei and Ayame dodged to the side, each sending a kick to Sota's back and knocking the wind out of him. Sota stumbled and hit the ground, gasping for air as he went to get up.

Ayame whipped around as she waited for him to recover. Her side was still hurting and she was starting to see double, the fact that her head felt fizzy wasn't helping much either. "Why are you so hell bent on getting rid of me Sota? You had the necklace and could have left then, why waste that chance on trying to take me out?"

Sota coughed a bit more before sneering at her. "After all these years you still don't know?"

"What, that you were a perverted idiot that couldn't keep his hands to himself." Ayame smiled as Sota grit his teeth. She was trying to get on his nerves as much as possible, hoping it might cause him to make a mistake.

"The only reason I stayed was to finish you off Ayame dear." Sota pointed at Hiei accusingly, "That _outcast_ doesn't deserve to have you. Your mine! Only Mine!"

Ayame leaned back as the lance shot toward her at blinding speed. A split second later, splinters and dust flew through the air as Sota made contact with a near by tree, compliments of Hiei.

"Berate her or myself again fool, and it will be the last thing you do." The point of Hiei's katana held steady at the vital point on Sota's neck.

Sweat began to visibly form along Sota's brow, as he started to quiver under the intense gaze of the koorime.

"If it wasn't for the fact that your family has such a strong tie to her, I'd end your life now." Hiei took a step back from Sota, dropping the point of the blade as well. Walking over to Ayame, he stood in front of her. "Can you make it back to the house?"

Ayame nodded and glanced over at Sota. "You'll let him go then?" She looked up at Hiei, semi hopeful that she wouldn't have to explain to Shinami about her brother's death.

Hiei gave a slight nod and began walking toward Miu's house.

Ayame sighed inwardly, turning back to give Sota one final glance, she saw nothing but the trees and woods behind her. A slight sense of panic washed over her as she scanned the area. "Hiei, he's gone."

Hiei turned to look back at her. He could care less as to where Sota was at the moment. However, given the fact that the boy wasn't exactly in his right state of mind, He walked back over to Ayame and looked around.

"He's still close by, that much I can sense, but there's something else there too." Ayame's muscles tensed as she spoke.

Hiei nodded. He sensed the same thing she did, something was wrong. Reaching up he pulled off the bandana that hid his Jagan. The eye opened, scanning the area and looking for Sota, as well as what ever it was he was trying to do.

"Hn, the idiot is hiding in the woods still, he's trying to focus his energy into something." Hiei put the bandana back on and started walking. He turned as Ayame began to follow. "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing, I'm going after Sota. The boys more trouble then he's worth." She stopped as Hiei moved in front of her.

"Go back to the house."

"What! Why?"

"Your bleeding Onna."

"Yeah and…"

"You'll only succeed in injuring yourself further."

"I'll be fine, I've been in worse conditions."

Hiei smacked a hand on one of her shoulders, causing Ayame to wince, and then pointed to her abdomen.

"If you've been stabbed through before then you should know better than to continue fighting."

Ayame glared for a moment into the stern ruby orbs. "We're wasting time."

"Hn," Hiei turned and visibly disappeared, dashing into the woods.

Ayame growled as he vanished. 'Why does he care?' She sat on the ground and crossed her legs, her demeanor shifting a bit from that of anger. Sighing, she looked in the direction that Hiei ran. 'Be careful Hikage."

'Baka onna. She's going to get herself killed one of these days.' He continued to race through the woods, drawing closer to the area holding Sota. When he was no more then a few feet away, Hiei stopped abruptly as a thin line of blood appeared on his cheek. Behind him, a sutra stuck fast to the tree.

"Good luck getting out of the barrier Jaganshi. I guarantee this will be your gravesite." Sota's voice echoed through the trees, cocky and proud.

Hiei jumped back as an explosion went off directly in front of him, landing only briefly on a tree branch as it too exploded.

Sota gave a manic laugh as Hiei dodged each blast. " Give it up! You're bound to slip up sooner or later."

Hiei grit his teeth as he tried to locate the attacking boy, however, the ongoing explosions were drawing away from his attention. Landing on another branch, he pressed himself against the trunk of the tree as Sota's lance shot down at him.

'About time he came out.' Hiei drew his katana and blocked Sota's next attack. "Fist of the Mortal Flame." Hiei smirked as he made solid contact with Sota's face.

The limp body hit the ground with a dull thud, Hiei landing next to it. He frowned when he realized it was nothing more then the empty shell of one of Sota's mind traps. He kicked it and looked around.

The area had gone deathly quiet, the snap of a twig would have echoed through the woods.

"Spirit Bomb!"

Hiei hit the ground as dirt and rubble filled the air. Looking back, a crater filled the spot where he was standing. In the dust beyond, a silhouette was visible.

Sota's form was soon visible as he approached, a grin on his face. Hiei caught sight of something around his neck as the sun reflected off of it.

"You've noticed my new accessory I see." Sota ran a finger over the gold chain around his neck. "It's an amplifier, given to me by lord Ryu himself."

He lifted the chain to show an amulet hanging from it. A blue sapphire set in gold, a snake wrapped around the edges.

"Ironically, it's made by the same person that made the Immortals Necklace, although it's not as powerful." Sota released the chain so that it fell under his shirt once more. "My powers are tripled while I wear this, still think you'll be able to beat me Jaganshi?"

Hiei didn't say anything. The boy was being arrogant, that would be the cause of his demise.

Sota's lance appeared in his hand. With a yell he swung it, sending an energy wave toward Hiei.

Hiei blocked and disappeared, undoing the bandages on his arm as he did. Using the kicked up dirt to his advantage, he got behind Sota, and readied himself for the attack.

"Dragon of-"

"Hiei wait! It's me!"

Hiei stopped as Ayame's voice sounded from the figure he was about to attack. The dust cleared, revealing the girl standing in front of him, looking as ragged as she did when he left her.

Hiei studied her for a moment, it sure as hell looked like her, and the aura was the same too. Something was wrong though.

"I told you to go back to the girls house."

"And I told you I was fine. Where's Sota?" Ayame looked around.

"Get out of here onna. He's using explosives now, and I seriously doubt you'll be able to dodge."

"Why do you care so much?" Ayame looked at him over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow.

Hiei just looked at her. "Because Koenma told me to help you protect the city while I'm here. You can't do much protecting if your dead." He turned so that he was facing away from her.

"Is that the only reason?"

Hiei tensed as Ayame wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her head on his back. What was she doing?

"Do you like me Hiei? Is that why?"

Hiei stood silent.

"Why won't you answer me Hikage?"

"...Get off."

"What! Hiei what's the matter?"

Hiei turned and pulled away. "You have to the count of three to disappear. One."

"Hiei what are you talking about?"

"Two." Hiei readied for the attack, getting ready to summon the dragon.

"Three!" A dagger flew through the air, hitting Ayame in the temple.

The girl fell to the ground as the real Ayame walked out from behind the trees. "Sota's going to pay for making me so annoying." She gave a weary smile toward Hiei.

"Your insane onna." He smirked.

"Yeah, probably. Where is Sota?"

"He disappeared after setting up the doll."

"He's right here."

Ayame and Hiei turned at the sound of a new voice. On the branch of one of the trees, stood Ren and Shun, the lifeless body of Sota in Shun's talons.

"What a useless pawn." Shun pulled the amulet off of the body and tossed it unceremoniously to the ground. "He really was a pain."

Ayame examined the body, noticing that Sota had been run through as well as burned by a high-energy attack. "You killed your own team mate!" Why was she so surprised, it was bound to happen, but still, she felt that even Sota didn't deserve to be betrayed by his own comrades.

"A team mate yes, but the only good team mate is one that can follow directions and do as he is told. He was to obtain the necklace from you and return to Master Ryu with it. Instead he stuck around to kill you. Good riddance I say." Shun replied, then spit on Sota's body. He gave a twisted grin at her then brought out his claws.

"Enough Shun." Ren commanded, laying a hand on his twins shoulder. "Our orders were to get rid of the insubordinate, we'll fight her soon." He turned to Ayame, eerily calm. "You have a week to prepare, and recuperate. We will hold off demon attacks on the city until that time. If you are not ready by the time we show up again, don't expect any mercy."

Ayame glared at him coldly. "Why wait?"

Ren just gave that same calm smile. "I would like to fight you at your peak. Fighting you now would be a waste of my time." He gave a slight bow. "Until then, Ms. Mitzuru"

The two Kitsune melted into the shadows and disappeared, leaving Ayame and Hiei alone with now deceased Sota.

Hiei watched as Ayame slumped to the ground and sighed. "You alright?" he asked emotionlessly.

"I'm fine, just wore out." She looked over at Sota. "I'm going to have to tell Shinami where he is. It's tradition in her family to bury a family member where they died." She stood up stiffly and walked over to the body. Bowing her head she said a quick prayer.

Hiei watched and waited till she was done. After she finished the two walked back to Miu's house.

* * *

"Holy Crap! What the hell happened to you guys!" Naoko shouted as they entered the house. Her eyes wondered to the stab wound on Ayame. "How the hell are you still standing after that?" She pointed to the wound.

Ayame gave a grin and scratched the back of her head. "You know me, to stubborn to quit."

"Sit down dear while I grab the first aid kit. You too hun." Miu's mom motioned to the two beat up fighters, then dashed off to the closet.

"So who's but got whooped out there, besides yours." Koji asked with a grin.

Ayame switched her view to an interesting piece of dust on the floor. "I need to talk to Shinami alone please."

Koji looked at her a bit then nodded, ushering everyone out of the room except Shinami and Hiei, who insisted on staying put.

"Ayame, you don't have to tell me what happened. I already know, you know that." Shinami looked at the girl, crouching so that she was eye level.

"I'm sorry Shinami. Tell your parents that for me. I'll show your Dad where he is as soon as I can."

Shinami shook her head. "There's no need for that." She put a hand on Ayame's shoulder. "Ayame, I told you last night no to blame yourself for what was going to happen. Why do you insist on not listening."

Ayame looked up at her friend, a little surprised by her lack of grief.

"Our conversation is done imouto." Shinami stood up and smiled. "You can come back in now." She called to the rest of the group.

Miu's mom came over and started cleaning the cuts on Ayame as Shinami did Hiei's.

"Your mother would have had a fit if she knew how hard you pushed yourself now a days." She tied off the bandage around Ayame's waist, and started on the smaller wounds.

"Heh, probably."

After a good hour of patching up and explaining what was going on, the two headed back to Ayame's.

Halfway there, Ayame decided to break the silence.

"Hey Hiei?"

"Hn."

"How long did it take for you to realize that that doll wasn't me today?" Ayame asked, referring to Sota's decoy.

Hiei was silent for a moment. "Why?"

"I'm just wondering. What gave it away?" Now she was curious.

"…It was cold." Was the reply after a moment of hesitation

"Huh?"

"When it grabbed me. It was cold."

"Oh, what about her question?" Ayame mentally kicked herself after bring it up. 'Stupid, why would he tell me that."

"What question?"

"Um, nothing. Never mind." Ayame put her hands up to wave the question away. 'Yeah right, like Hiei would really tell me whether or not he likes me.' She shook her head to rid the thought.

"Something wrong onna?"

"Nope, and quit calling me that Hikage."

* * *

(Next day)

Ayame came down stairs, swinging a backpack purse over her shoulder. She had on a pair of loose fit jeans and a tank-top that covered her bandages. She walked into the living room where Hiei sat on the window sill and smiled.

"What?"

"Your coming with me today." She replied, the smile not leaving.

"Why, and where?" Hiei asked, not moving from his spot.

"I'm taking the train into the city. I need to get more throwing knives sense I wasn't able to find mine. It's a pretty nice weapons shop, and thought that maybe you'd might like it. So, you want to go?"

Hiei looked at her for a moment then closed his eyes and smirked. "Hn, Fine."

Ayame smiled again then nodded. "Alright then, let's go."


	22. A Day Trip

Shonoki: Hurray for the people that hook up internet for a living! I finally (after four long months) have access to the Internet again.

Hiei: You could have gone without it.

Shonoki: No! No I could not! (Clings to computer)

Hiei…You need help Onna.

Shonoki: Ah, shut-up.

Disclaimer: You already know what is going to be put here, so I'm not going to bother typing it .

* * *

Ayame and Hiei walked out of the Kyoto station and started toward the bus stop.

"That place is always so crowded. I prefer the smaller stations." Ayame stated as she stretched her arms above her head.

"Where is this weapons shop at onna?" Hiei asked as he followed her, avoiding the large groups of humans that walked past them now and then.

"It's close to the Pontocho, we're going to have to take the bus to it though." She turned back to Hiei and smiled apologetically as they got closer to the bus. "I swear I will try to take a less crowded route on the way home."

Hiei glared as he saw the large crowd of people getting onto the bus. "This trip better be worth it onna." He replied back, almost growling.

"Heh, it's only slightly crowded." Ayame climbed onto the bus, followed by Hiei. "We'll be their soon, and we'll probably be he only ones getting off at the first stop. Pontocho doesn't get busy till later tonight."

Hiei closed his eyes and held onto the handle as the bus took off, his other hand was tucked into his pocket. He was resisting the urge to growl at the little kid behind him that insisted on trying to run down the crowded aisle.

(8 minutes later)

Stepping off the bus, Ayame sighed in relief. "Finally, breathing space. Thanks for not trying to maim anyone back there Hiei." She said as she watched him cross his arms and lean against one of the buildings.

"Slightly crowded was an understatement onna." He watched as she looked down the road opposite of the bus stop. "Something the matter?"

Ayame snapped out of her temporary trance and gave a weary smile toward him. "It's nothing. I was…just getting my bearings." She turned and began walking down the narrow street of the Pontocho.

The street was barely wide enough to fit a small group of people, and stores and restraints seemed to be crammed in next to each other, leaving little to no space between them, and making it hard to tell where on stopped and another began.

"Do you know where you're going?" Hiei asked impatiently after following the red tipped blonde down a side street. This one was slightly larger but not by much.

"Of course I do. This is the only place that I'll buy weapons from. They get a lot of nice imports and some really rare stuff too. The prices aren't bad either." She smirked as she examined the brightly colored signs hanging above the doors. She continued walking till she came to another side street and turned down it.

"Here we are." Ayame stopped in front of a shop that seemed plain and dull compared to the other stores. The sign was wooden and not painted, and there were no paper lanterns.

Hiei looked over at Ayame for a moment, raising an eyebrow then looking back at the building.

"Don't give me that look. I promise this will be worth it." Ayame walked into the door and waited for Hiei to follow before closing it.

Inside, numerous types of swords and weapons lined the walls. Three glass cases containing daggers, needles, throwing stars, and other small weapons of the sort, lined one of the walls. On another wall were materials used to make, and clean weapons.

"Keep your hands to yourself while you're here. Don't touch anything unless you plan on buying it." The man behind the register said, not bothering to look at the two customers. He was busy reading a newspaper as Ayame walked up to the counter.

"Then allow me to start messing around with all the sharp pointy objects you have hanging around." She smirked as the guy realized who it was.

"Ms. Mitzuru, how are you today, and who's your friend?" The man smiled then motioned toward Hiei.

"This is a my friend Hiei. Hiei this is Mr. Katashi, he's the owner of this fine establishment." She made a sweeping motion with her hands toward the store.

"Well it's nice to meet you Hiei, any friend of Ms. Mitzuru is a welcome in my store." The man said with a grin

Hiei nodded to him then went back to looking at the katanas.

"He's a quiet one." Katashi said as he watched Hiei for a moment.

"Yeah, but he's a good guy. Anyway, I'm here to pick up some more throwing knives." Ayame smiled at the man waiting for a reply.

"You need more already, you just but a dozen two months ago." The man walked into the back room as he spoke, raising an eyebrow at the young girl.

"Yeah, I had a bit of a scuffle and they got lost, I think they might have been found by someone else." She rested her arms on the counter and waited for Katashi, her wallet in her hand.

"Here you are, your lucky I keep your customs in stock." He set a satchel on the counter in front of her then typed some numbers into the register. "Will that be all for today?" he asked before finishing the purchase.

Ayame turned to look at Hiei who was busy looking over the collection of katanas on the wall. "Hey Hiei, how's the blade on your katana?"

Hiei turned to look at her, looking uninterested. "Why?"

"I figured that with all the fights we've been in lately, your blade would be a little dull. Katashi could sharpen it for you while we're here." She motioned to the man behind the counter, who in turn just waited for an answer.

Hiei was silent for a moment but handed the blade over to the man, giving him a warning glare, as if to say, "Better do a good job." or "I want it backing one piece."

"I'll be done in two minutes." Katashi disappeared behind the curtain once more, where the sound of the blade against the sharpener could be heard.

Ayame looked over at Hiei for a moment. "Your sword will be fine Hiei. Katashi an expert at this, he made a majority of the weapons in here after all."

That seemed to calm him done a bit. Hiei crossed his arms and leaned against the counter, closing his eyes. "Hn."

Ayame smiled and waited for Katashi. The sound in the back room soon stopped and Katashi emerged, with the sheath sword in hand. "I have to say this is a very nice sword. You have quite a treasure here sir." He handed the sword back to Hiei.

Hiei nodded and accepted the sword back. "How much was it?" he asked in his usual emotionless voice.

"Don't worry about it." Ayame said as she handed Katashi some money. "This ones on me. Think of it as a thank you for helping me." She smiled the waved to Katashi. "Thank you Mr. Katashi. Have a nice day."

The two left the store and began walking again, only this time Ayame was headed in the opposite direction of the bus stop. "Where are you going onna?" Hiei turned and watched her walk over to a small flower stand and by a small bunch.

'There's something I need to do while we're here in central Kyoto." She looked down at the ground as she spoke then turned to walk down another street. "If you want to look around or do something else you can. I won't take very long." Her voice was low, and sounded a bit disappointed.

Hiei hesitated for a moment. He was a little surprised by her behavior, she hadn't made any comments about him calling her onna all day. She hadn't even called him by her name for him as a come back. "Where do you want to meet up?" he asked before she had time to walk away.

"We'll meet back here in about twenty minutes." She pointed to a clock tower off to the side. Forcing a smile she waved. "Have fun, Hiei." Ayame turned and started walking again, flowers in hand.

Hiei watched her walk away, and disappear with in a crowd of people. His Jagan glowed a faint blue as he tried to read her mind, but with no success. "Baka onna, she's a got a block up." He growled before hopping onto one of the roofs.

Ayame continued to walk until she came to a bridge. On the other side was a fenced in area with graves and shrines. Taking a deep breath she walked over the bridge and through the fence. She stopped when she got to a shrine with the names Kira, Tetsou, and Riku carved into it.

A small tear slid down her face as she knelt on the ground. "Hi guys, sorry I haven't come to visit for awhile." She split the flowers into three groups and set them on the gravesite. "I have a lot to tell you, although, you guys probably already know what's going on."

Hiei hid in a tree behind her. Resting against the trunk of the tree he closed his eyes and listened in on her talk with her departed family members. How long had it been since she was last here, it explained the mood she was in. She had probably planned coming here last night.

"A lot's happened lately. I've been put in charge of protecting the Immortals Necklace." She fingered the amulet around her neck as she spoke, her fingers trailed over to the dragon pendant that hung next to the amulet. "And, I made a new friend as well. His name is Hiei. That's him sitting in the tree eavesdropping"

Hiei opened his eyes and glanced back at her. A few seconds later he was on the ground and standing behind her. "You could have told me." He stated as he scanned over the grave.

Ayame nodded but kept her face toward the ground. "I just didn't want to make you feel like you had to come." She looked up enough to be eye level with the headstone. "My mom was Kira, and my dad was Tetsou. You already know about Riku." Ayame bowed her head once more before standing up. "Ready to get going?"

Hiei nodded. "Have you figured out a less crowded way to leave?" He asked.

Ayame shook her head. "Nope, but I want to grab something to eat before we leave. Sweet snow sound good?" She asked.

Hiei smirked then nodded.

Ayame smiled. "Good because we need to have a talk about you refusing to call some one by their name Hikage."

* * *

Ayame walked down the platform of a much less crowded train station, trying to find the right one. "Here it is." She and Hiei walked on and took their seats. "Is this one better?" She asked once the train started moving.

Hiei nodded. It was dark out already and most people were coming into Pontocho. In fact, other then him and Ayame, there were only four other people on the train. Hiei crossed his arms and closed his eyes as the train continued to roll along.

"Thanks for coming with me today Hiei, it was fun." Ayame said before yawning.

"Hn."

It was the answer she expected to get. Ayame just smiled and leaned back in her seat before closing her eyes. "It really was fun." She said under her breath as she smiled. It was long before she dozed off.

Hiei still sat with his eyes closed and arms crossed as the train hit a bump, and there was a soft thud against his shoulder. Opening his eyes, Ayame's head now rested there, smiling slightly in her sleep. Hiei smirked and closed his eyes again. 'Baka Onna.'

* * *

Shonoki: I'm really sorry this is so short, and took me so long to post. I haven't given up it's just that my new PC doesn't have a word program on it yet so I'm still using the schools. Hope you all like. R&R please. 


	23. Nightmare: round 2

1Shonoki: I am poor, and in dire need of money.

Yusuke: Get a job.

Shonoki: I have a job. It just doesn't pay enough.

Yusuke: Get another job.

Shonoki: What is it you do again for a living, steal other kids lunch money was it.

Yusuke --…

Shonoki: That's what I thought.

* * *

Disclaimer: See chapters 1-21 for disclaimer.

* * *

Ayame moaned as she turned her head to avoid the sunlight that was hitting her eyelids. "Five more minutes." She mumbled into her pillow…or what she thought was her pillow. If it was her pillow it was breathing and smelled of slightly burnt spices. Opening her eyes, Ayame found herself experiencing déjà vu. She, once again, found herself sleeping next to Hiei…well, on his lab in this case.

'What the hell?' Going to get up, Hiei's arms, which were holding her in place, tightened around her waist.

"You might want to look around before you decide to get up." He stated plainly. He had been awake for a while.

"Huh?" She looked around and realized that she wasn't in her room…or in her house. "Hiei, what the hell are we doing in a tree?" Ayame turned to look at him, eye twitching slightly.

"Your door was locked."

"Did you try to unlock it?"

"I couldn't find the key."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I tried."

"…oh…."

Hiei smirked and moved her off his lap before he jumped out of the tree. "Can we go inside now?" annoyance seemed to tinge the words.

Ayame jumped down and pulled out a key before walking to the door and unlocking it. After opening the door she reached up and uncovered the porch light. "The spare is kept in here." She showed him the lid with the key taped to the under side before stepping inside.

Ayame stretched a bit as she watched Hiei make his way over to the windowsill and sit down. "What time is it?" she wondered aloud as she glanced at the clock. It was only 9:00. "No wonder I'm so tired. Memo to self, don't take the last train out of Pontocho."

Hiei smirked as she flopped onto the couch. "We could have made it back faster if we had ran." He said.

Ayame nodded. "Probably, but then again, it's nice just to take things slow every once and awhile." She smiled until a certain thought crossed her mind. "Did you carry me back here?" She asked as she sat up quickly.

"You didn't sleep-walk onna." Hiei replied.

Ayame felt the heat rush to her cheeks as the image of Hiei carrying her flashed in her mind. She shook her head to clear it and then looked at him questioningly. "No one saw right?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

"Would it bother you that much if I said yes?" Hiei's tone was almost accusingly cold, and it caused Ayame to straighten a bit. It wasn't the answer she was expecting from him, she thought for sure that he would give his usual 'Hn' and that would be the end of it.

'Why should I care if some one saw him carrying me.' she smiled then leaned against the arm of the couch. "No, I guess it wouldn't bother me." She replied after thinking about it. She closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep.

Hiei cracked open one eye and watched as she turned onto her side to face the wall. He smirked and turned to look out the window. Strangely, he had grown content with this place, he no longer felt out of place and the need to get out had disappeared some time ago. He almost didn't want to go back. What was even stranger to him was the feeling he got every time he was close to Ayame.

He tensed a bit as the communicator started to beep. Quickly he jumped off the window and went to the kitchen. Flipping open the communicator, and image of Kurama appeared.

"Hello Hiei. How are you faring in Kyoto?"

Hiei was silent for a moment. Why was the fox calling now, especially about this. "Fine."

Kurama nodded. "Are you and Ms. Mitzuru getting along?"

"Yes." Hiei began walking toward the back door. He was starting to wonder if Kurama had some how developed the ability to read minds as well.

"That's good to know. Koenma's been working on the portal. So far every things going smooth here. How are things going on your end? I heard theat Ryu was after something that your host has."

"There were a few attempts made by him to get the necklace, the worst that's happened was the death of one of his pawns. He was the brother of one of Ayame's friends. At the moment she has a week to get herself ready for a final attempt."

"A final attempt? That doesn't sound like some thing Ryu would do. Why give her a week to get stronger?"

"A couple of his lackeys gave the message. Twin kitsunes. One of them said something about wanting to fight her while she's at her best. She took a few heavy blows the last time we saw them."

Kurama nodded, looking deep in thought. "Hiei, has Ayame talked to you about her families past?"

"Just about how they died, and that the necklace had been passed through it, not a long history though. Why?"

"Koenma had mentioned something earlier about Ayame's mom. According to him, Ryu was the one that killed her."

(Back With Ayame)

Ayame lay on the couch, still sleeping only not as soundly. She turned over and clutched at the pillow under her head.

(Dream)

The images from her last nightmare flashed through her mind. Riku's death along with the images of the shadowed figure. The only difference being that Ayame recognized the shadow this time. It was Hiei.

"What's the matter Kohana? You don't like my little slide show?" A wicked voice asked.

The voice sounded vaguely familiar but Ayame was unable to place it. It was the same voice from the last time, but she had heard it some where else as well, but where.

"Leave me alone. You said I had a week." she called out angrily. She held her eyes shut so that she didn't have to watch the pictures, but it didn't help.

"Wrong. Ren said you had a week of no attacks, and those attacks only pertained to your city." More scenes appeared, these ones of some of the people that got hurt by demons. "I can still toy with you though kohana."

"Stop calling me that!" She went to punch one of the images, ripping through it as if it were paper, and fell to the ground. It was dark and black all around her. She felt cold here, almost empty.

(With Hiei)

"Does Ayame know that it was him?" Hiei asked he had perched himself in the tree that he had woken up in.

Kurama shook his head. "Koenma told me that it was best for her not to know, so he didn't tell her. He's made sure that Ayame doesn't even know what he looks like. However, Koenma's been starting to rethink that idea."

Hiei raised an eyebrow. "Why's that."

Kurama debated for a moment before answering his friend. "According to Koenma, Ryu has a need to get rid of Ayame by what ever means necessary. She is his target right now, for more reasons then just the necklace."

(Back in Ayame's Mind)

Black tendril like things came out of the darkness and began to wind themselves around Ayame.

"You've been quite a pain lately Kohana. I need you to stay out of my way for a while." The voice echoed in the darkness.

Ayame struggled against the bindings that continued to wrap around her. "Let go of me. This is my mind, get out!" she called. She continued to struggle as she yelled, even though all it seemed to do was make the bindings tighter.

"I doubt that anybody will save you know." The voice echoed. "Here, why don't I start a little movie for you." above her were the scenes of her family members dieing.

"Screw You!" Ayame called as she started to actually get free abit, enough to turn herself onto her stomach and pull one arm loose.

"Don't think it will be that easy." more tendrils reached out and grabbed at Ayame. She managed to keep her arm free, but a few of the snares had began wrapping themselves around her neck and pulling her down into the blackness under her.

Ayame grabbed at her throat and took a few deep breaths of air. "Erg, let...go of...me!" she struggled out as she grit her teeth and closed her eyes

"Ayame wake up!"

Ayame opened her eyes when she heard her name. "Hiei?"

"Damnit onna. Wake up!"

Ayame reached a hand up above her. "I...can't!" She tried to yell. Her voice was beginning to disappear and talking was only making it harder to breath. Ayame had to gasp as one of the tendrils tightened around her neck. 'I need help.'

"He can't help you anymore Kohana. You'll be consumed by the darkness and left alone for the rest of your life." The voice mocked her in the distance. Ayame wanted nothing more then to set the person it belong to ablaze.

"Ayame!"

A hand reached down towards Ayame out of the blackness above her. Ayame reached for it, struggling against the things that were holding her down. 'Almost there.' she thought. Ayame forced herself to tried to jump at least a little bit, giving herself just enough reach to grab a hold of the hand. As she did it like some one had released a vice grip on her and her mind.

(In Reality)

Ayame felt herself being up and held. Opening her eyes she saw that Hiei was standing next to the couch and holding her by the shoulders. She took a deep breath and sighed, relieved to finally be awake.

"What happened?" Hiei asked accusingly. "I thought you said you had a week with out attacks."

"According to Mr. Disembodied voice in my nightmare. There's a double standard. The_city_ has a week of no attacks. I'm not immune though." Ayame looked up at Hiei but ended up having a flashback of him ending up dead.

"You look pale onna. Something wrong?" Hiei raised an eyebrow. He had seen the flicker of fear in her eyes.

"Nothings wrong." Ayame pulled away from HIei and started toward the backdoor. "I'll be right Hiei. I just need some air."

* * *

Shonoki: Having no microsoft word program is really starting to get on my nerves, and since I have no money, I can't go buy one.

(Sits down with piece of paper.) Dear Santa...

Alright anyway, Hope you guys like this chapter the next one will have more mush, as well as a song. R&R please.


	24. Savin' Me

1Shonoki: Yay for the reviewer's . You guys are so cool, and you make me laugh to...kind like when I look at Yusuke's face.

Yusuke: Hey! I didn't even insult you or anything lately, and you just go and insult me for no reason.

Shonoki: (Shrugs) I'm just bored is all. So to solve this problem I can either A) type my story. Or B) Insult you.

Yusuke: ...THEN GO TYPE YOUR STORY!

Shonoki: 00...okay...

* * *

Disclaimer:

Yusuke: She doesn't own any of us...(looks at Shonoki) Get typing!

Shonoki: Yes sir (salutes)

* * *

Ayame walked through the woods with holding her arms. She didn't really have a set path, she just needed to clear her head. 'What am I going to do? I can't sleep if Ryu's going to hauntings me, and if I stay awake I'll be in no condition to fight...' She continued to think as she leaned against a tree. "What would you do if you me Riku?" 

The wind blew through the trees, brushing Ayame's bangs into her face and eyes. She sighed then looked up past the leaves of the tree above her. "I know what you'd do..." closing her eyes she slumped to the ground and pulled her knees to her chest. "I just wish there was another way."

* * *

(Ayame's House, right after Ayame left) 

Hiei watched as Ayame left the house, feeling slightly out of place in the now empty house. None the less he walked over to the couch where she was laying looked over it. It was true that Ryu had the ability to invade people's dreams, but he had to have a sort of tie to the person before doing so. It wasn't until the talk with Kurama that he had realized what it was.

"That explains why he was able to attack her the last time..." he said, referring to the night they had to share a bed. He smirked at the memory, almost smiling. His mind then turned to the fact that he would be leaving soon. His expression faded back to his original stoic look as he turned in the direction of the door, and started to follow the direction Ayame went, hoping to find out what was wrong.

* * *

(With Ayame) 

_Prison gates won't open up for me,_

_On these hands and knees I'm crawling..._

Ayame now laid on the same hill she was on when she saw Hiei fall into the woods. "Hard to believe he'll be leaving in a week or two..." She was staring up at the cloud less sky as she spoke. She could sense Hiei coming through the woods toward her, and she frowned. She still needed time to clear her head a bit.

_Oh, I reach for you,_

_I'm terrified of these four walls..._

Getting up she lowered her spirit energy so that it would be harder for him to find her. 'Why is he following me anyway. I've been nothing but trouble sense he's gotten here...' Ayame made her way toward the opposite end of the clearing, making sure to stay low as she got to the trees.

Getting behind a tree, Ayame watched as Hiei got to where she had been and looked around. "Why did I have to see that happen to him..."

_These iron bars can't hold my soul in_

_Oh, all I need is you..._

Hiei stood at on the hill and looked at the surrounding area. He she had been there, her energy signature was everywhere. The only problem was that it dissipated at one point. "She's avoiding me..." it felt more like a question to him then anything else. If anything, he wanted to figure out why she ran away from him back at the house.

_Come please I'm callin'_

_Oh, I scream for you... _

'She's still close by...' Hiei looked around again, this time using the Jagan. He soon found Ayame by the tree at the end of the clearing. "There..."

_Hurry I'm fallin'_

_I'm fallin._

Ayame frowned a bit as Hiei spotted her behind the tree. "Stupid Jagan eye." She muttered as she took off at a run into the woods. Yep, this was really helping to clear her thoughts. Ayame jumped into a tree and started jumping from limb to limb instead. It wasn't long before she heard Hiei behind her.

"Go back to the house Hiei." She called back at him as she continued to jump.

_Show me what it's like,_

_To be the last one standing_

Hiei followed after her, closing the gap pretty quickly. "Why?" was the demanding response. He wasn't going to let her go without getting his answers first.

_And teach me wrong from right,_

_And I'll show you what I can be..._

Ayame glanced over her shoulder at him. Seeing that he was gaining on her, she upped her speed a little more and started to hide among the leaves every now and then. 'May be I just want to be alone for awhile.' she told him telepathically. She stopped momentarily to see where he had gone, but couldn't find him.

_And say it for me, Say it to me,_

_And I'll leave this life behind me..._

"You can be alone once you've answered my questions Onna." Hiei said. He was behind her now, an annoyed look on his face from having to chase her.

Ayame kept her back to Hiei as she spoke. "Hiei, I really need to just think some things over." she jumped back down to the ground and starred at the dirt.

_Say it if it's worth savin' me..._

Hiei followed suit and jumped down too, still behind her. "Why did you run away from me earlier?"

Ayame kept her eyes to the ground and didn't answer. There was a long silence before Hiei started talking again.

"Look at me onna." His voice was lower this time, more stern.

_Heavens gates won't open up for me,_

_With these broken wings I'm fallin..._

Ayame closed her eyes as Hiei spoke. If there was one thing she didn't want to do right now, it was look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry for running away from you back at the house Hiei, but there was something in the nightmare that I saw that I don't want to see happen in reality."

Hiei's expression didn't change any. He put a hand on Ayame's shoulder and forced her to turn around to face him. "What did you see?"

_Oh, all I see is you,_

_These city walls ain't got no love for me..._

Ayame didn't answer, instead she continued to stare at the ground and inform Hiei of her plan. "When this week is over...I'll be going to fight the kitsune, by myself."

Hiei stared at her for a moment. "Your insane Onna. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"No, but I'd rather it was me instead of you." Ayame looked up at Hiei this time.She kept her expression serious. "I don't want anybody else to get hurt because of me."

_I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story, _

Oh, I scream for you,

Ayame leaned against the tree she was standing in front of. "I'm going to need you to hang onto the necklace for me during the fight. After everything is said and done, you can take it back to Koenma. He'll find some one else to guard it."

"Quit talking like you're on your death bed onna. It's annoying." Hiei said as he crossed his arms and glared at her "You can keep the necklace. If you need someone else to guard it, take to Koenma yourself. I'm not playing your messenger boy."

_Come please, I'm callin'_

_And all I need from you..._

"Hiei, I'm serious alright."

"So am I onna. I'm going with you!"

"Why!"

"Because, I'm not going to let you die!" Hiei slammed his hand into the tree trunk, next to Ayame's face. He wasn't going to hurt her, but he was aggravated, and it was just to emphasize his point.

Hurry I'm fallin,

I'm fallin...

Ayame flinched. Not at the hand in the trunk next to her, but at what Hiei had said. "You don't really get a choice Hiei. Besides, why does it matter that much, As long as the necklace-"

"Shut up about the stupid necklace onna! Screw the damn trinket to Makai and back!" he looked Ayame in the eye, leaning in a bit. "And who says I don't get a choice in the matter?"

Show me what it's like,

To be the last one standing...

"I do."

Hiei smirked. "You expect me to listen to you?"

Ayame starred back at Hiei. "Yes I do, and you still haven't answered why it should matter?"

And teach me wrong from right,

And I'll show you what I can be...

Hiei took another step closer, he was now only a few inches away from her face. "Why do you think?"

Ayame could feel the heat rush to her face. Why was he doing this. She stared back at him for a minute then mentally kicked herself for being stupid. She knew why.

And say for me, Say it to me,

And I'll leave this life behind me...

"Hiei..."

Say it if it's worth savin me,

Hurry, I'm fallin...

Hiei caught Ayame's lips in a kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Ayame returned the kiss and leaned in, deepening it. There was still a small part of her that was saying 'stop, he'd be leaving soon'. However there was a much large part of her saying something along the lines of 'Damn he's a good kisser!'

And all I need is you,

Come please I'm callin.

The kiss broke, and Hiei pulled back a bit, leaving Ayame to take a shaky breath. He kept her held close though. "That's why Ayame."

Ayame closed her eyes as she rested her head on his shoulder. She had to smile when he said her name though. "About time you got my name Hikage..." She said jokingly. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug and turned her head so that she was facing him. "Thank you Hiei."

And Oh, I scream for you,

Hurry I'm fallin...

He smirked and brushed some hair out of her face. "Hn,...your welcome."

I'm fallin...

I'm fallin...

* * *

Shonoki: Ha! I finally got to the major Mush scene, and I have a song to tie into it Brownie points for me. (Dances around happily) The song is called Savin' Me and it's done by Nickelback. It isn't the whole song on here. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It took me awhile to make sure it all made sense and fit together. R&R please.


	25. A solution to the problem

Shonoki: (Lying on top of a bunch of blankets and pillows.) I love Christmas .

Yusuke: That was last month.

Shonoki: Yep, but I can still enjoy it! I got the complete chapter black series on DVD!

HURRAY!

Yusuke: Oh, well that explains why you're so happy, you get to watch your favorite bishie Hi-

Shonoki: Pounces on Yusuke to shut him up)

Hiei: What's going on?

Shonoki: Nothing (sweat drop)

Hiei:….Hn.

Shonoki: That's enough out of you (hits Yusuke's head.)

* * *

Disclaimer: 

This is getting repetitive. One of these days I'm going to do this in Japanese.

I do not own YuYu Hakusho, only Ayame and Company.

* * *

Ayame and Hiei were now in the field practicing, and getting some training in before the day was done. It had been a couple of hours since the kiss in the woods, and to some one who might have happened upon them, they would have thought the complete opposite. 

Ayame jumped back as Hiei swung downward at her with his katana. Flicking her wrist one of her daggers dropped to her palm, which was then thrown at Hiei. Taking a step to the side, the dagger flew past.

"Those really aren't going to do much good." He said as he got ready to attack her again. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed that Ayame's arm was still extended. "What are you doing?"

Ayame smirked and turned her wrist so that her palm was facing up. "Trying out a new trick." She yanked back fast with her arm. "Watch your back." She called.

Hiei turned back in time to see the dagger flying back at him. He moved out of the way again, and turned once more toward Ayame, half glaring at the surprise attack.

Ayame grinned and held her hand up, the dagger hanging from a thin wire tied to her wrist and hand. "This ought to save me from having to go back to Pontocho in the next month." In the next second she had the dagger in front of her and clashed up against Hiei's blade. "Cheater."

Hiei smirked and tried to force her back. "Ren wouldn't wait for you to be ready either." He stated. Earlier they had decided, since Hiei refused to let her do it alone, that Hiei would take care of Shin, while Ayame went after Ren.

Ayame moved her right foot so that it was right next to Hiei's left. "This is true." She replied. She then ducked under the blades tripping Hiei in the process. "He wouldn't give me pointers either though." She smiled and stretched. "I think we should take a break." She said as she held her hand out to help Hiei up.

Hiei smirked and got up. "Have you figured out what you're going to do about sleep?" he asked while re-sheathing his sword. He looked at her as she tensed slightly.

Ayame turned to look back at him, forcing a smirk. "Yeah I think I got it covered." She reassured him. She began walking, but jumped when Hiei caught her shoulder.

"You really are a horrible liar onna"

Back with the nickname again. Ayame sighed inwardly then turned back to face him. "I'll think of something. I'll probably just put up a shielding before I go to sleep." She shrugged and turned to walk again. "Eep!"

Hiei stood in front of her this time. "Can you even keep a shield up all night?" He raised an eyebrow. His arms were crossed as he waited for the answer.

"Trying isn't going to hurt." Ayame replied crossing her arms as well. She was half tempted to mock his expression too, but decided she would much rather make it home without another bruise or lump.

"Your going to be stubborn about this too, aren't you."

Ayame smiled. "Do you always ask question's you already know the answer to?" She moved to get around him and continued walking.

Hiei shook his head. "Baka onna."

(That night)

Ayame paced the floor of her room. There was no way in heck she was going to be able to keep a psychic barrier up all night, she had trouble keeping her physical barrier's up for longer then an hour. 'fricken' psychotic bastard." She mumbled to herself, referring to Ryu. She let out a long breath and sat down in the middle of her floor, crossing her legs. Taking a deep breath, she let it back out slowly, relaxing her body in the process. Her mind flashed back to her practicing with Riku when they were kids.

"_Come on Ayame, your not going to get any better if you don't at least try to focus." a 9 year-old Riku coaxed to a 5 year old Ayame. She was sitting in a lotus position, but humming loudly to herself in mock meditation._

_Ayame unfolded her legs and stood up. "But it's so boring." She whined as she stretched. "I'll practice later, I promise. Can I just go play instead, Please?" _

_Riku sighed in defeat as his younger sister started with the puppy dog eyes. "Your hopeless." He said as he knocked the side of her head with his knuckles. "Go ahead, but you _are_ practicing tonight, understand."_

_Ayame nodded and hugged her brother. "Yessir! Ja ne Riku. I'll be back later."_

Ayame's eyebrow twitched a bit. "Oh sure, now the lessons come in handy." She grumbled. She relaxed herself again, attempting to put up a barrier.

Hiei leaned against her doorway, smirking as she complained about skipping out on lessons. He watched for a few more minutes, making sure that she successfully put up a shield, before going back to his room. He still wasn't totally convinced that she'd be able to handle it all night, but he was going to let her try.

Ayame smiled when she was finished, proud of herself for completing the barrier on her own. Now came the real test, seeing how long it would last. "I hope this works." She crawled into bed, noting the time, and then turned out the light.

(Ayame's mind)

Ayame lay on the grass of a vacant field. She smiled as the wind blew lightly past her, and the sun was shining.

'Hurray! It worked. No sign of mister crazy voice.' She thought as she starred up at the sky. She began humming to herself softly, which eventually turned into her singing loudly. After all, who was around to hear her?

This continued for awhile, with her singing a number of songs, even starting to make up her own. Halfway threw the second stanza, something wet hit her face. Ayame sat up, wiping her face of the liquid. Looking down at her hand, she found that it was smeared red with whatever was on her face.

"What the-"she looked up as the sky turned a dark grey. A lite sprinkle started with more of the liquid. Ayame went wide eyed as she realized what it was. The smell of blood permeated from the ground as it soaked up the rain. "It's raining blood…" Ayame said in disbelief. She then noticed that there was now standing water, err blood, on the ground. She paled as she realized her shield wasn't going to last her the night. Getting up she ran toward the trees and sat in one.

"Let me wake up…Come on stupid wake up." She yelled at herself. As she watched the flood level rise at an alarming rate.

"Did you really think that half rate shield of yours was going to keep me out Kohana." The voice said through the sound of the rain. "You know what that is, don't you?" it referred to the rain. "That's the blood of all those you've killed, little flower. All the ones you tracked down and got rid of. Let me also tell you that it's mixed with those that are close to you. The ones that _I_ will kill and _have_ killed!"

Ayame's head snapped up at the last part of the sentence. What did he mean by have killed. "Who did you kill?" she asked, her voice was a bit on the alert side but she didn't really care.

The rain continued, but lessened a bit. "You don't know? I thought for sure Koenma would have at least told you the name of your parent's murderer."

Ayame's eyes widened, quickly changing to orange as the air around her heated up rapidly. "Show yourself bastard." Her voice was low, and she glared at the area in front of that was the field.

The rain stopped and the rising flood dissipated. Ayame jumped from the tree and waited for Ryu to come out. "Come on! I said get out here!" she yelled. Embers began to rise from the ground, caused by the heat, but still no one. "You're a coward."

There was a slight uneasy feeling around her as the wind blew past. The field had gone quiet again, as if nothing had happened. "I guess he left." Ayame shrugged and went to walk around. She took two steps before being enveloped in the flood.

Coming up out of the liquid, Ayame coughed and hacked. "**You freaking bakayarou**!"

She called out as she tried to keep her head up. She winced as the flood slammed her against a tree. She coughed again as more of the liquid washed over her. Reaching up she tried to grab for a branch, however it broke at her touch. "You've got to be kidding me!" She yelled, clinging to the tree.

"I have to admit Kohana, you are quite the hindrance. You've caused me more trouble then anybody else in your family." A hand shot up out of the blood and grabbed her throat, pinning her to the tree.

Looking down, Ayame watched as more of the body rose out of the body. What surprised her was that, whoever it was had white hair, much like her brothers. The person continued to emerge, seemingly untouched by the red liquid, where as it was staining Ayame's clothes. He stopped when he was a little taller then her, but the water was up to his waist. His hair was cut to his shoulders, and his face had very prominent features. Her eyes locked on his and she noticed that they were purple, a bit of black mixed with them on the outer rim or the iris. This was Ryu.

He smirked down at her amusedly, and yet confidently. "And just like every body else in your family, you too I must get rid of." He kept his hold on her neck but his eyes traveled a little lower, landing on the two chains around her neck. "My only problem would be getting a hold of this. See, if I killed you in the dreamscape, I would have to get to your body to retrieve it. It would be so much easier to kill you in reality." He fingered the amulet.

"Fuck…off." Ayame growled dangerously as she glared heatedly.

Ryu shook his head in disappointment. "Really now Kohana, a young lady such as your self should speak like that." He shook his head again, closing his eyes.

Mistake number one.

His eye snapped open when Ayame dug her claws into his upper arm. She grit her teeth as he applied more pressure to her throat.

Mistake number two.

As Ryu's arm tensed from the extra pressure, Ayame was able to find his muscles and veins. Relocating her claws she dug in deep in his tricep area, then pulled back toward her, tearing through the skin.

Ryu growled in pain as he released her, dropping her into the flood. "You'll drowned here!" he yelled as he reached down and held her under.

Ayame struggled to get back up. She hadn't thought about what to do if this happened.

"Give it up, you're just tiring yourself." He said as he pushed down more.

Ayame tried harder, though he was right. She was fatigued already and this wasn't helping. She squeezed her eyes shut as her lungs began to demand air. 'This isn't going to go on much longer.' She told herself as she decided to just conserve her energy. Her arms went limp as she stopped trying to rip off Ryu's arm. This was it.

She floated for a bit waiting for something to happen. Ryu was still holding her down surprisingly. It seemed as if he had decided killing her in the dreamscape was easier after all.

'Well at least the dream started out nice.' She thought to herself. Something pulsed nearby her, catching her attention. Turning her head in the direction of it, she received another push down from Ryu. The thing pulsed again, this time stronger. 'What is that?'

Her question was soon answered when she felt herself being pulled out of the out from Ryu's grip and then out of the flood.

(Reality)

Ayame's eyes opened as she was pulled up out of bed and too her feet, which at the moment, decided not to work. "Whoa!" She fell a bit before being caught by Hiei.

"Baka onna! You said you'd handle it!" Hiei looked down at her as she took a few deep breaths.

To her, it felt like she had really been under water. Her lungs really did hurt and she was practically gasping for air. "It started out good…" she said as she tried to get control of her legs again. She stood up straight finally and looked up at Hiei, who still had his arms around her.

"It lasted a long time." She said, and then looked at the clock, which actually proved her wrong. In reality only an hour had passed, however, in the dreamscape it felt like more. "Well, it felt like a long time."

Hiei still didn't say anything. He set her down on the bed and then pulled a chair over. "What happened?" he asked finally as he sat down with the back of the chair facing her.

Ayame looked back at him, her eyes fixed on the ruby orbs. Why was it she could never tell what he was thinking? With most people it was easy, they showed there emotions or thoughts through their eyes all the time, but not Hiei. She sighed and leaned back on her hands. "It started to rain blood." She replied blandly.

"What else?"

"It started to flood and I was dragged into a tree."

"What else?"

He started to taunt me again."

"…"

Ayame's eye twitched a bit. "Is there a specific answer you're looking for?" she asked finally.

"You weren't breathing when I came in." He stated as he stared at her pointedly.

Ayame tensed a bit. "That's because he held me under." She replied.

"You saw him then."

Ayame's eye's flickered as she nodded. "Remind me to ask Koenma something tomorrow." She said as she got up off the bed.

"About what?" Hiei asked as he watched her sit on her floor once more.

"About why he never told me who it was that killed my parents even though I asked, and why he kept it a secret from me even to this day." She glared out the door as she spoke.

Hiei didn't say anything but nodded. He figured she would have found out, just not this soon. He looked back at her as she began to meditate again. "You're not doing it again." He stated while getting up.

Ayame opened one eye and looked up at him. "Why not?"

He stood over her now, arms crossed again. "Because I'm not coming back in here again if it doesn't work."

Ayame glared at him now. Apparently he had forgotten the incident earlier today in the woods. "So you're just going to let him mess with my head without any obstacles to get in his way?" she asked sharply.

Hiei smirked. "Did I say that?"

Ayame raised an eyebrow as her gaze softened. "No…"

"Hn, then stop putting words in my mouth onna." He lifted her up by the arm gently and led her back to the bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he set her back down on the bed, and placed his hands on either side of her temples.

"Creating an actual barrier. Not some flimsy curtain that you made." He replied. He smirked as she glared at him.

"Meanie." She stated as he finished up.

"Stubborn."

"Arrogant." She retaliated as she covered up and rolled over to face the wall.

"Baka onna." he replied. Only this time he was right behind her…in her bed.

Ayame turned over to face him. "Again I ask. What are you doing?" She couldn't help but give a small smile as she watched him.

Hiei closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around her. "In order for the barrier to stay up _all_ night, I need to be in physical contact." He stated while pulling her closer.

Ayame couldn't help but smile more. "Right….that's not just some lie so that you can sleep in the same bed as me is it?" she asked as she turned to face him completely.

Hiei smirked but said nothing.

"Sneaky." She said as she closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest. There was silence for awhile as Ayame listened to Hiei's breathing. She could tell he wasn't falling asleep, so she decided to help him. Softly she began to hum, the same melody as the last time they shared a bed.

(Morning)

Ayame cracked her eyes open a bit, shutting them almost immediately after the light hit them. "Stupid sun." she mumbled while turning away from it, and laying her head on Hiei. She had almost forgotten he was there, but she felt better knowing he was. Last night's experiment was successful, and Ryu hadn't attacked her once Hiei had put his own barrier up, so she got a full night sleep.

Forcing herself to let her eyes adjust to the lighting of the room, Ayame yawned. She looked up as she felt Hiei's arm wrap around her again. "You awake?" she asked,

Hiei kept his eyes closed. "Yes." Was the blunt reply. He opened his eyes know and stared at the ceiling. "Mind telling me how you do that?" he asked, still holding her.

Ayame looked up at him, slightly confused. "Do what?"

"Put me to sleep." He looked down at her, still looking a little drowsy.

Ayame raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. It could just be what I sing, or how I sing." She smiled and closed her eyes. "Glad to know it works though. You were really tense last night."

Hiei was silent for a moment. He ran his hand up Ayame's spine stopping when he came to the two scars on her back. He traced over one with his finger, realizing that it was more of a welt.

"That tickles." Ayame said as she tried not to start giggling.

Hiei's eyes shifted to her and he smirked. "Really?" he said in a way that got Ayame's attention.

"No."

"I'd listen to you why." His hand was still on her back.

"Because I'm providing you with a house and a bed at the moment."

"A tree is just as good."

"Because I'm cooking food for you."

"I'm capable of getting my own meal." His finger slid over the welt once more.

Ayame tensed, resisting the urge to start laughing.

"Please don't."

"Resorting to begging now are we."

"No, just asking nicely."

Another brush over it and Ayame had to squeeze the comforter to keep her self stable. "You're evil." She stated.

"You're realizing this now onna?"

"You bite."

In an instant she was pinned under Hiei, a small squeak of surprise getting out as he leaned in close to her. "Do you mean that?" he asked, voice low and eyes flashing.

Ayame felt the heat rush to her cheeks as her breath caught in her throat.

Hiei smirked, then leaned and kissed her. Ayame let out a breath of relief when the kiss broke. Hiei snickered at her reaction before getting up.

Ayame sat up and chucked a pillow at him. "I thought you were serious baka ojou!" she huffed and got out of bed as he caught the pillow and tossed it back at her.

"Watch what you say next time." He said as she grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt.

Ayame looked up at him when she realized he wasn't leaving the room. "Do you intend on watching me change." She raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

Hiei leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, staring at her.

"Meh, suit yourself." She said as she shrugged and turned around. She was about to start acting like she was going to change when Hiei grabbed her sides and started tickling her.

"Ahaha-Hikage-haha-you-haha-freaking-hahahahahahah-baka-Hahaha!" Ayame clutched at her sides and struggled to get away. "Hahaha-let-ahah-go!" she some how managed to turn herself around to face him, still laughing. Looking up, she saw something that almost would have made her stop laughing all together.

Hiei was smiling. Not smirking, but flat out smiling.

She smiled inside, seeing as how she was already laughing and smiling on the outside, and went back to getting away from the tickling. She put her hands up and pushed forward, causing Hiei to fall back and onto the bed,

"Glad to see you're having fun." Ayame said as she grinned and picked up her clothes.

"Hn." Hiei went back to smirking and made his way from the room.

Ayame smiled and shook her head. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Shonoki: Well that was fun to type. And I got it done in two days. Hurray for the return of my muses . I might have gone kind of overboard with the mush in this one though. Let me know what you guys think. R&R please. 


	26. Something to do

Shonoki: I"mSorryI'msorryI'msorry! (On floor apologizing to readers)

Yusuke: (walks up in front of her) About time you start bowing down to me.

Shonoki: (twitch) Shut up moron, I'm not bowing to you.

Yusuke: Yeah, uh huh.

Shonoki: I'm debating whether to let you keep living in that fantasy world of your, or to pop you one right in the mouth.

Yusuke:...yeah...you just continue with you what ever it was you were doing. (Walks off)

Shonoki: Idiot...anyway, I'm so sorry I haven't updated for so long. Life's been hectic with one thing right after another. I'll explain this maybe some other time, but for right now, lets get to the story .

* * *

Disclaimer: I'm not even going to bother...You all already know what goes here.

* * *

Ayame sat on the couch with a needle and thread in her hand. In front of her was a layout for a kimono, and the fabric that Miu had gotten her for her birthday. Hiei sat in the windowsill behind her, seemingly asleep. They had decided to rest up and take a break today, and resume training tomorrow.

Ayame sighed a bit. The house was so quiet; she could actually hear all the small noises in her house. The needle pulling the thread through the fabric, Hiei's breathing behind her, the creaks of her house as it settled….It was enough to make her go crazy. "I'm going out for a walk, be back in a moment." She stated as she finished her stitch and tied the knot. Ayame stood and started for the door.

Hiei gave a slight "Hn," to show that he heard her and went back to sleeping. Ayame smiled and slipped on her shoes, looking back once before leaving.

"Who would have thought I would actually miss tracking down demons." Ayame put her hands behind her head as she walked. "It's so quiet now, you would think that everything that has happened was nothing more then a dream." She closed her eyes as a breeze blew buy, the fading summer time smell carried along with it. "Fall is on its way here already, and it feels like summer just started."

Ayame stopped as she came to the lake that housed the entrance to her secret spot. Climbing on top of a rock, she sat crossed legged and looked out over to water. A memory of the day she showed Hiei the spot played out in front of her and she smiled. "It's going to really suck when he leaves." Lying down, she looked up at the blue sky. "Figures, I finally meet someone I really like, and they have to leave."

'_Why not go with him?_' Ayame's mind tried reasoning.

"I can't leave Kyoto, I have to work here. Koenma would throw a tantrum if I just left."

'T_each Naoko and Miu. They could take over for you_.'

"I don't want to put them into that kind of situation. Miu doesn't like violence unless it's absolutely necessary, and I'm not sure how well either of them will deal with that kind of weight you get after killing that many demons." Ayame sighed and closed her eyes.

'_Ask them._'

Ayame opened her eyes slowly. "Ask them…let them decide whether or not they can handle it." She was silent for a moment then sighed. "It gives me something to do at least."

"You want us to become trackers?" Miu asked, a little surprised.

Ayame shook her head. "I want to know if you two _want to_ become trackers. The decision is entirely up to you guys, not me. You've about what I do for a long time now, so you know what the job entails."

Naoko sat across from Ayame at Miu's kitchen table, Miu herself next to her. "Would we be taking over for you?"

Ayame shook her head again. "Not right away, you would cover for me if I needed you too, or partner up with me for really tough jobs. You and Miu would work together once you get better at it though. With both your abilities, it be a really good team up."

There was silence from the other two girls for a long while, Miu was the first to speak up though. "We'd have to kill demons wouldn't we?" Her tone suggested that she already knew the answer.

Ayame looked down. "Yeah you would, but only if they're posing a threat to others. For instance, if you see a human like demon, like us, just minding his own business and living his own life, you would leave him be. However, if that same demon tries to attack and or kills another person, demon or human, it's our job to get rid of him."

Naoko nodded. "But isn't there another way to get rid of them, like sending them back to that one place you've told us about."

Ayame looked up. "The Makai. There will be some instances where the demon in question will go willingly, but most don't. I guess I never really explained that to you guys. Majority of the attacks here in town are from lower level demons that slipped through a portal or something. Most of those demons don't have good intentions once they get here. There are very few occasions where it was an accident and the demon will leave with out a fight."

Ayame stopped here and thought for a moment before speaking again. "Your main priority in this job is to protect those who can't protect themselves. This can also include yourselves. If you don't think you can handle a situation, call for help. There is no shame in it and it doesn't mean your weak in any way. If anything it means your smart enough to know what you can or can't handle."

Miu and Naoko sat for a moment, taking in everything their friend had just said. Ayame tensed a bit as she anticipated their answer. She was ready for them to say no, heck she half expected Miu to ask her to leave.

"When do we start?"

Ayame looked up with eyes wide. No way she had heard that right. "What?"

Naoko and Miu both smiled. "We said when do we start?"

Ayame was at a loss for words for the time being, three seconds later she was smiling and hugging her friends. "You guys rock!" she said as the other two laughed. Getting off of them she jumped a bit excitedly. "You'll have to train a lot before you actually make out into the field. I'll help you as much as I can, but I might have to ask Shinami if she can do it for a bit until I have time. Where is she?"

"She went shopping with my mom and her mom. Her dad went with my mine somewhere else." Miu said as she stood up. "I'm going to make us a snack. Are you staying Ayame?"

Ayame shook her head. "No, I need to go call Koenma. There are a couple of things that I need to ask him about." She stretched as she stood and waved goodbye. "I'll call later to talk to Shinami. Ja ne you two."

Ayame left and started back for her house, taking the long way. "I wonder if Hiei's awake?" she asked herself, hands once again behind her head. She looked at the windows of the stores that lined the street stopping at. Noticing one store in particular she stopped and looked at the merchandise. A gave a small smile at seeing one item and ran in to buy it.

"I'm back." Ayame kicked her shoes off and made her way upstairs to hide her purchase.

"Where are you going?" Hiei asked as he walked into the kitchen.

Ayame stopped and smiled. "Upstairs. I'll be right back." A few seconds later she was back in the kitchen and placing a bag of take out on the counter. "I didn't feel like cooking, so I hope you don't mind take out."

Hiei shook his head and took a container of food. "You were gone for awhile."

Ayame nodded. "I went to talk to Miu and Naoko. I asked them if they wanted to be trackers. Speaking of which, I need to call Koenma."

"You want them to take over for you?"

Ayame shook her head. "No, not yet anyway. After a few years maybe, or depending on how well they progress. Either way, I need to start training somebody." She looks around for a moment then back at Hiei. "Can I borrow your communicator please?"

Hiei handed it to her then leaned against the wall near the stairs. "I wouldn't go off on him right away onna."

Ayame sighed and nodded. "Yeah well, I still want to know why he didn't tell me." She flipped it open and pressed the call button.

"Hello." Koenma's face appeared on the screen and Ayame took a deep breath to keep from yelling at him.

"Hey Koenma, I got some news for you, followed by questions."

Koenma nodded. "Alright go ahead."

Ayame explained about the girls training, and about the nightmare attacks she had been getting. "Koenma, there's something I found interesting after all this."

Koenma raised a brow. "Really, what might that be?" he asked, not realizing what he was getting into.

"The fact that you never once, at any point and time during this entire mission, you didn't seem to find it necessary to tell me Ryu was the one that's killed my parents, and the one responsible for my brothers death. Why is that?" Her voice was eerily calm as she spoke.

Koenma stared at her for a moment. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." He replied professionally. "I thought that if you found out, you would have gone on your own to find him. I didn't want to take the risk of losing my only tracker in Kyoto, as well as the last guardian of the Immortals Necklace."

"So basically you did it to keep a pawn on the board." She about yelled. Ayame's patience was wearing thin, and that wasn't exactly the response she was waiting to hear.

Koenma sighed. "Ayame, you know that wasn't my intention." He rubbed his temples then looked back up. "There's a lot you don't know Ayame, Telling you about one thing would lead to another, then another. Some of those topics were areas your parents didn't want me to bring up. So if you want a good reason, I didn't tell you because it was your parents wish."

Ayame was silent, staring back at Koenma. "I see." She said finally.

Koenma nodded. "Once this is all over Ayame, I'll send you the appropriate forms and such for Miu and Naoko. It would be nice to have more trackers in your area."

Ayame nodded. "Alright, thank you Koenma." She closed the comp and set it down, then rested her head on her hand. "Why the hell does everyone keep secrets from me?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on you two pick up the pace." Ayame jogged backward in front of Miu and Naoko. They were running uphill on a path through some woods.

"Ayame, you're a slave driver!" Naoko panted as she ran.

"Miu smiled and kept going. "It's not that bad Naoko."

"Easy for you to say, you're on the soccer team, you run all day."

Miu smiled and ran ahead of her. Naoko moaned and pushed herself to go faster.

Above them, Hiei jumped from tree to tree, following at the same pace. "All three of you need to speed it up a bit." He blurred out of sight as he raced ahead.

Naoko shook her fist at the spot he was at. "Yeah, well no one asked you." She retorted.

Ayame snickered and shook her head. "Come one Naoko, keep up the pace. You'll be doing a lot more running then this if you become a tracker, I can promise you that one."

Naoko groaned. "Tell me this isn't the same training you went through when you started." She panted.

Ayame grinned. "Naoko, I want you to think about who my teachers were, then ask me that question again." She raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

Naoko smirked and kept going. "I withdraw my previous comment. I feel relieved that this isn't the same training." She pushed herself and got up to the look out at the top of the trail. "Finally, time to rest." She bent over, her hands on her knees.

Ayame laughed. "Lazy." She opened up a bag that she was carrying and handed each girl a water bottle as well as a bento box. "We'll head back after you guys finish up." She took out her own meal as well as Hiei's and sat down on a bench, setting Hiei's meal down next to her.

"Wow, check out this view." Miu stood at the railing, over-looking their city. "I wish I had my camera."

Naoko walked over to join her, gulping down her water. "Yeah, this is pretty cool. To bad it's such a pain in the arse to get to."

Ayame leaned back and took a bite of her food. "It won't be that hard for long. We're going to run the trail quite a few times for training. We might go a bit farther up next time." She smiled as she heard Naoko start to complain again. Turning she watched Hiei pick up his meal.

"She complains too much." He stated.

Ayame nodded, but smiled. "That's Naoko for you."

"I heard that!"

Ayame shook her head with a smile. "They'll be good trackers, just need to train is all." She turned to look at the horizon watching as the sun hung ready to set at any time. A few minutes later and they were on their way back.

* * *

Shonoki: There you guys go. I'm sorry again for it taking so long, I've been having a few problems and stuff lately (Going to the doctors is no fun ) I'll work on the next chapter soon. R&R please. 


	27. Time and Place

Shonoki: I owe you all such a huge apology it isn't even funny. I've just had so much stuff going on what with graduating, and medical situations, and my job, and a new pet...my brain wants to explode and it can't because there isn't enough time in the day. Anyway, this one is short I know, but it's short for a reason, the reason being is, the next chapter is going to be uber long and quiet possibly the second or third to last chapter. That's right readers we're getting down to the wire here . Anyway so sorry again for making you wait for months, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all in the next one.

Disclaimer: EVIL FLYING MONKEYS ARE GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!

Yusuke: The HELL! What is wrong with you?

Shonoki: A lot, but I just wanted to say something other then I don't own the YuYu gang and such.

Yusuke:...Your insane..

Shonoki: probably.

* * *

"You ready for the next round Miu?" Ayame called from across the training field. On the ground next to her was a pile of small flour bags, used for defense and target practice. She had one in her hand that she held ready to throw.

Miu stood a good three hundred yards away down the field. She had sweat dripping from her forehead and she looked a bit pale as she was covered in splotches of flour from the bags that she missed. "I'm ready." She called, determined to finish up her training. She stood with her hand out in front of her. Palm toward Ayame.

Ayame nodded and wound up for the throw. "Ready and Go!" she called, hurling the bag at the girl. Quickly she grabbed up three more and used telekinesis on a few more.

Miu focused on the bag and waited for the right moment. As it grew closer to her she released some energy in the form of a lightning bolt, using it to knock the bag away from her.

Ayame smirked and sent the other bags at her. The six of them flew through the air with a wiz, the only other sound being the zap of Miu's lightning, or a small thud as she missed and a bag hit her, leaving a cloud of powder and a splotch on her skin or clothes. "Miu, that was good, could use some more work, but you did good. Go ahead and take a break."

Miu sighed as she slipped to the cool ground beneath her. "This is harder then I thought it would be. I will never complain about soccer practice again." She said loud enough for Ayame to hear her.

Ayame couldn't help but laugh a little as she handed her a water bottle. "You go ahead and rest up, I'm going to go check to make sure Naoko and Hiei haven't tried to kill each other." She walked toward the woods, leaving Miu to rest.

Naoko ran through the woods, hopping over logs and hiding behind trees whenever she could. Closing her eyes she crouched down to see if she could hear, or sense anything or one near by.

Hiei followed after her, keeping quiet, and waiting for her to feel like she was in the clear. The goal of the exercise was to train Naoko to be more aware of the things around her, using the wind to carry sounds and smells to her if she could. So far, it was going moderately okay. Hiei waited for a bit before moving over next to Naoko. "You realize that had this be a real situation, you would have been dead by now?" he informed her.

Naoko glared up at him. "I would think that if this was a real situation, I wouldn't have to sense where you were. Ayame's got a locater for that, and the demons are usually pretty loud when they get here anyway."

Hiei resisted the urge to knock her upside the head. She reminded him too much of the detective.

"Just cause the demons I fought recently have been that way Naoko, doesn't mean they will all be like that." Ayame said, sensing the girl was on Hiei's last nerve. 'Thank you for not killing her.' She told Hiei.

He glanced at her from the side. "Hn." Was her verbal reply before he disappeared into the trees. "Alright Naoko, stand up and focus, I'm going to move around and I want you to tell me where I am at. However, you need to use your abilities to find me, that means using your spirit energy to control the wind."

Naoko sighed. "Alright." She closed her eyes and waited for Ayame to move. The wind picked up a bit as it began to blow past her and toward Ayame, swirling around and going back to Naoko.

'It's amazing how fast they are progressing' Ayame pointed out to Hiei as she quietly moved farther back and to the side.

Naoko raised her hand and pointed to Ayame.

Hiei nodded and watched silently. 'It would seem that the training is more for honing their skills then.'

Ayame nodded slightly, moving again and watching as Naoko's hand followed her. "Alright Naoko, your done, I think you got the hang of it." She walked over to the girl as Hiei hopped down from the tree to follow. "Why don't you go get Miu, she's resting in the field right now. Let her know that you guys are practicing with Shinami tomorrow."

Naoko nodded. "Yeah, alright. You coming?" she asked, as she started jogging in place.

Ayame smiled. "I'll be there in a moment." She said, waving her hand for her friend to go.

Naoko just shrugged and jogged off.

"They don't know?" Hiei asked, watching Ayame for a moment.

She shook her head. "I thought it would be better to not get them too worried about something they aren't going to have any control over. Shinami already knows probably, and I'm happy she hasn't brought it up. I trust her enough not to get involved."

Hiei smirked. "You make it a point to fight your own battles." He pointed out.

Ayame nodded. "It's just how I am, and I'll be the first to admit it." She smiled, laughing a little. "I'm going to go check on them. I'll meet you back at the house if you want."

Hiei nodded and turned, disappearing from sight. Ayame watched and turned to head toward Miu and Naoko. As she started walking something caught her attention to the side. Looking over she stopped dead in her tracks. "R-Riku." The figure of her brother stood pale in the distance between the trees. Quickly, Ayame blinked and rubbed her eyes, looking back up at the now empty spot. She hesitated for a moment then shook her head. "I-I must have over done it today. I'm starting to see things...and talk to myself. You're losing it Ayame." She teased herself as she walked back to the field.

* * *

Ayame sat on the porch, Sketch book in hand and colored pencils next to her. The picture of the winged warrior was slowly starting to come to life now that it was partially colored. It was her way to keep her from thinking about the fight tomorrow. 'I promised Hiei that he could help...but after all those visions...' She shook her head. "That's not going to happen."

"What's not going to happen?" Hiei asked, standing behind her.

Ayame turned quickly, surprised a bit. "You sneaking up on me again, that's what." She smirked and raised a brow at him, closing her book up.

"You've been quiet all day." He pointed out, leaning against the railing of the porch.

"I'm just thinking about the fight tomorrow is all. I can't figure out whether I'm nervous, or excited." She looked out at the setting sun. "A part of me wants this fight to happen, mainly just so I can beat the two kitsune to a pulp and let out some frustration, and the other part of me is sitting there going over all the what 'if's'." She paused for a moment and smirked, closing her eyes for a moment. "I sound like a rookie again. I really am losing it."

Hiei snickered. "If your losing it onna, I think I'd rather take my chances with the Kitsune."

Ayame nodded, laughing a bit. "You probably would be better off." She stood and stretched. "Let's head inside, I'll fix something for dinner." Hiei walked inside silently, Ayame following behind. "Oh, almost forgot my stuff. I'll be right in." Turning, Ayame picked up her supplies and stood back up.

"Ayame..."

The sound of her pencils falling to the ground again was the only other noise but her breathing. In front of Ayame stood Riku, his violet eyes looking empty as he stared her down. "R-Riku..." She took a few steps back. "No, no your not suppose to be here, your dead, I know you are..."

Riku took a step forward his hand extending as he handed his sister a piece of paper. "For you..." he said, his voice cold, unemotional.

Ayame took the paper with a shaking hand, her eyes on his as he backed away and vanished as if he was never there. "I really am losing my mind..." Looking down at eh paper she read what it said.

_Your week is up, get a good nights rest and meet us in the field tomorrow, first thing with the sun. Bring the necklace along as well as whoever your want, although it isn't recommended, wouldn't want more casualties then needed after all._

_Rin,_

_PS. Hope my messenger was polite._

Ayame's eyes glowed orange for a moment, the paper bursting into flames as she read the last line.

"Hey," Hiei's voice redirected her attention to the door where he stood. "I thought you were coming inside?"

Ayame smiled, her eyes back to there blue ice coloring, and the remains of the paper blowing away with the breeze. "Sorry, I just have to get my pencils and I'll be right in."

Hiei watched for a moment, picking up on something he wasn't sure about. Brushing it off he gave his usual "Hn." and went back inside.

Ayame watched him leave then picked up her stuff. 'Tomorrow it is then...' with that she walked inside.

* * *

Shonoki: Yeah, like I said, it was short, however the next chapter will amke up for it hopefully. Now that I have time to type again this should be updated alot more then before, plus part 2 of this is in teh works on paper. Hope you all like it so far, R&R please 


End file.
